Økt arbeidsledighet i USA – 80.000 mistet jobben i mars

Nok en gang meldes det om økende arbeidsledighet i USA. I løpet av mars har ytterligere 80.000 mistet jobbene sine:

Det var færre jobber i mars enn det har vært de fem foregående månedene. De siste 50 årene har som regel økt arbeidsledighet vært det første forvarslet før en større økonomisk nedgang. Nå frykter mange at dette også kommer til å skje denne gangen.
- Tre månder med stadig flere lønnstakere som mister jobben og dårlige konjunkturer. Dette er klare tegn på at arbeidsmarkedet er i dyp krise, sier Jared Bernstein, økonom ved Economics Policy Institute, til New York Times.

New York Times skriver også at:

In the last 50 years, whenever there has been an employment downturn like the one of the last few months, a recession has followed.

Stock markets on Wall Street turned slightly lower in afternoon trading after spending much of the day in positive territory.

But economists were less optimistic. The drop in payrolls was worse than feared: many analysts had expected a decline of 50,000 jobs and an unemployment rate of 5 percent.

“This report is telling us that the recession started awhile back, in December,” said Nigel Gault, the chief United States economist at Global Insight, a research firm. “It is not like we are starting this month. We’re in it; we’ve been in it.”

Washington Post skriver en del om hvordan nedgangen fordeler seg på bransjer:

The report shows clearly how the problems in the housing and financial markets are rippling through different sectors, showing the deep interconnections between seemingly separate parts of the economy.

The number of construction jobs, which has been falling steadily for 18 months, continued its rout. That sector shed 51,000 positions, as fewer residences are being built.

Fewer houses mean less construction and building materials; the number of manufacturing jobs fell by 48,000, with some of the steepest losses among makers of lumber, drywall and other materials. Automakers also shed jobs. With their homes less valuable, Americans seem to be holding off on big-ticket purchases.

Consumers pulling back means stores need fewer workers; the number of retail jobs fell by 12,400. The steepest losses were in sellers of building materials and appliances, both of which are highly tied to the housing business.