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Employers trimmed 345,000 jobs in May, the smallest loss since the crisis in financial markets last September
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Job losses slowed dramatically in May, according to the latest government reading on the battered labor market, even as the unemployment rate rose to a 26-year high.
Employers cut 345,000 jobs from their payrolls in the month, down from the revised decline of 504,000 jobs in April.
This was the fewest jobs lost in a month since last September, when the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers caused a crisis in U.S. financial markets and choked off credit for many businesses. Economists surveyed by Briefing.com had forecast a loss of 520,000 jobs in May.
Still a weak unemployment report as the unemployment rate increased 5% over last month.
Declines moderated in construction and service-related industries while steep job losses continued in manufacturing - those higher paying manufacturing jobs are sorely needed.
YoY employment is strongly negative - 5.4M worker less employed compared to May 08.
Many people have given up looking for employment so their numbers are not counted.
The unemployment rate continues to rise, highest level (9.4%) since summer 1983.
I think many people (understandably) seize on any snippet of good news but completely fail to consider the wider perspective and actually think about what is really going on out there in global terms.
A nation which has been consuming and continues to consume far in excess of what it produces, which is the world's largest debtor and which has a rapidly devaluing currency is not "recovering".
"Asians make things and sell them to Americans, who borrow money from their suppliers (on the inflated value of their houses) in order to continue living beyond their means. Asians take their profits and either relend them to Americans...or use them to buy more productive capacity, in America and elsewhere.
For those who wonder where this trend will lead, we offer a guess: The average American will be left with a shoeshine kit and instructions on how to say 'please' and 'thank you' in Chinese...."
Of course the umemployment rate will go up when there are still job losses (they say it will peak at 11%), it is the decrease in losses that is important to watch. Clearly the trend is improving and that is what matters. Most of the jobs being lost are jobs that were created during the bubble, obviously that must correct and is.
I saw a quote yesterday: "The trouble with being an optimist is that people think you don't know what you are talking about."
How true! Being an optimist and burying one's head in the sand are two different things. There's nothing wrong with trying to find the good news out there.
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