Photograph of Paul Nawrocki by Bebeto Matthews/AP; Nawrocki, whose employer, a toy company, went out of business, wears a sandwich board in Midtown, looking for a job (more here)
The Labor Department offered up grim news today: "U.S. employers axed payrolls by a shocking 533,000 in November for the weakest performance in 34 years," according to CNBC. Additionally, the unemployment rate is now 6.7%, the highest since 1993 (and higher than the 6.5% measured in October).
These numbers were far higher than what analysts were expecting. A Moody's economist told Bloomberg News, "The labor market capsized in November. The financial panic has hammered the economy and we are seeing a very broad-based decline in payrolls.” And naturally the news is causing the stock markets to fall.
The NY Times reports, "The employment report increased the likelihood that Congress, with the support of President-elect Barack Obama, will enact a stimulus package by late January that could exceed $500 billion over two years." An economist at U. Mass explains, "Basically $100 billion of public investment in such things as roads, bridges and levees would generate two million jobs. That would offset the two million jobs that we are now on track to lose by early next year.”
