MW: Unemployment rising, but where is the response?
Commentary: Percentage of adults working hits 28-year low
By MarketWatch
WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — The economic news has gone from bad to worse. Job growth has stalled and the unemployment rate is rising again.
In a very discouraging employment report, the Labor Department reported Friday that the unemployment rate rose in July to 9.2%, the highest rate this year. Payroll growth totaled just 18,000, as federal, state and local government agencies laid off 39,000 workers. There was very little good news in the June report. The average workweek declined. The average hourly wage declined. The percentage of adults who were working fell to 58.2%, matching the lowest figure since 1983. Read the full report on the government website.
Among major industries, most were adding a few jobs, but not many. Manufacturing added 6,000. The sector with the most growth — leisure and hospitality — is one of the lowest paying.
The Japanese tsunami has undoubtedly hurt the U.S. economy by disrupting the production and delivery of essential parts, especially for autos and computers. Higher energy prices have also had an impact.
The good news is that those negative factors are waning. But the slump can’t be laid entirely at the feet of the earthquake or oil.
The economy is still crippled from the housing bubble and financial crisis. Consumers don’t have the extra cash to spend. Businesses see very little reason to expand their production for the U.S. market. And the government is contracting its economic reach.
The U.S. might be able to export its way out of this soft patch, if it weren’t for the fact that many of our major trading partners are in the same boat.
Now would be a really good time for some creative thinking about how to get the economy growing again. Unfortunately, the Federal Reserve is hoarding its final bullets and both political parties seem to be putting all their hopes into one strategy: Austerity.
