Stories related to: unemployment

US employers cut far fewer jobs in April than in recent months and the unemployment rate dropped to 5%, a better-than-expected showing that nonetheless still revealed strains in the nation's crucial labor market. For the fourth month in a row, the economy lost jobs, the Labor Department reported today. But in April the losses totaled 20,000, an improvement from the 81,000 reductions in payrolls logged in March. More »

Hundreds of college grads who thought they had landed dream positions with Bear Stearns were canned before their first day on the job, the Wall Street Journal reports. As the giant bank began to implode, the students were at first assured their new jobs were safe—but then were sent packing to hunt for work along with 38,000 others recently let go by the financial industry. More »

Thousands of Bear Stearns employees face uncertain futures after the investment bank's takeover by JPMorgan, and they’re entering a Wall Street beset with problems and bereft of jobs, reports Reuters. "They are coming into a market at a time when Wall Street doesn't offer much opportunity," one analyst said. Of 26 top executive positions at JPMorgan, only five went to Bear employees. More »

Democrats are calling for another stimulus package to help American workers as unemployment soars, the New York Times reports. Almost 250,000 American jobs have been lost since the beginning of the year—including 80,000 in March—leading one policy expert to say it's time the government switched focus from the housing crisis to the flagging job market. More »

Unemployment surged in March to 5.1%, the worst it’s been since September 2005, reports the Wall Street Journal. The country lost 80,000 non-farm jobs last month after dropping 76,000 jobs in both January and February. The third sharp drop fuels fears that the US has slipped into a recession and may prompt another interest rate cut by the Fed. More »

New unemployment claims increased to a two-year high last week, the Wall Street Journal reports. A total of 407,000 Americans filed for jobless benefits, an increase of 38,000 over the previous week and the most since 2005. The surge in claims far surpassed the outlook of economists in a Dow Jones Newswire survey; they predicted an increase of 4,000. More »

In an economic indicator that paints a grim future for swaths of the US population, an all-time record 28 million Americans are expected to be close enough to poverty to receive $36 billion in food stamps in the coming fiscal year, reports the New York Times . There is a surge in recipients in 40 states, with 14 already reporting a record count last year. More »

A double whammy of rising inflation and unemployment has experts worried that Japan’s economy—the world’s second largest—is fast losing steam, reports the Wall Street Journal. Inflation in February rose 1%, its fastest spike in a decade, and household spending stalled in the face of rising food and oil prices. More »

Young people have long fled recessionary job markets by moving back home, but the current crisis has a new demographic scurrying there: the middle-aged. "This is not like, 'OK, my son just graduated from college and needs to move back in' type of thing," says one financial planner, who has seen more adult children leaning on parents for everything from rent to groceries. More »

The high-profile economic woes plaguing Wall Street and previously hot housing markets are spreading, raising the possibility of the worst recession Americans have faced in years. The New York Times crisscrosses the country, assembling anecdotal evidence—suddenly thrifty brides, unsold construction equipment, sinking earnings at FedEx—that suggests the slowdown could drag into 2009. More »

A cascade of bleak financial news has convinced most economists in a Wall Street Journal poll that the US is already in a recession. The results are markedly more negative than a similar survey only five weeks ago, and much of the foul mood can be traced to last week’s dismal employment report. “The evidence is now beyond a reasonable doubt,” said one. Of the 51 economists polled, 71% said recession had arrived. More »

Stoking fears of recession, US retail sales fell in February by .6%, the Wall Street Journal reports, despite economists' predictions of a 0.1% increase. Sales had been up a revised 0.4% in January. Factors cited in the decline include rising gas prices, falling home values, the credit crunch, and a soft job market, with 63,000 jobs disappearing in February. More »

The US lost 63,000 jobs in February, the second straight month payrolls contracted and the worst drop since 2003, catching economists off guard and fanning fears of recession anew, Bloomberg reports. Economists hoped the economy would add 23,000 jobs after declining a modest 17,000 in January, when the unemployment rate rose to 4.9%. More »

Japan’s Nikkei fell 3.3% and Australia’s S&P/ASX2000 dropped 3.2% as woeful US economic news—including rising foreclosures, worsening homeowner debt and impending credit defaults—sent Asian markets reeling, the Associated Press reports. Investors also worried that a key jobs report to be released this morning would show a rise in US unemployment, which would further hurt already depressed Asian exports. More »

Stocks fell more than they had in a week today amid reports of sluggish economic growth, rising jobless claims, and fears of failing banks, Bloomberg reports. The Dow fell 112.10 points to 12,582.18, the Nasdaq fell 22.21 points to 2,331.57, and the S&P 500 12.34 points to 1,367.68. The government said GDP grew by 0.6% last quarter, below analysts' estimates. More »

The Federal Reserve issued a bleak assessment of the economy today, predicting weak growth and rising unemployment this year. Fed officials expect the economy to grow between 1.3% and 2% in 2008, the slowest in five years, the New York Times reports. A separate report today showed consumer prices rising, putting the Fed in a tricky spot as it weighs another rate cut against fears of inflation. More »

Workers who’ve lost a job are having a tougher time finding a new one as the economy contracts, marking an end to more than a decade and a half of rapid, sometimes phenomenal, US job growth, writes Business Week’s Peter Coy. The loss of 17,000 jobs in January, the first monthly decline since August 2003, raised concerns about job creation as well as recession. More »

While economists squabble over a possible US recession, Japan has quietly slipped into one. The country’s postwar riches have all but vanished, the Washington Post reports, as its GDP tumbles from fourth to twentieth among the world’s countries and its share of the world’s economy dips from 18% in 1994 to below 10% in 2006. More »

Nonfarm payrolls declined 17,000 in January, the first monthly loss of US jobs since August 2003. The surprising loss—in manufacturing, construction, financials, and government—seems to vindicate aggressive action by the Fed, the Wall Street Journal reports. The number, which had been expected to climb by 75,000 jobs, raised both recession worries and hopes for yet another Fed rate cut. More »

Congress today announced an economic stimulus package that would put a $600 check in every American taxpayer's mailbox by early summer, sources tell CNN, and a likely $300 per child. The refunds are "there to strengthen the middle class, to create jobs and to turn this economy around," said Nancy Pelosi in announcing the deal this afternoon. More »