The U.S. economy, bruised from a series of blows, looks to be growing slowly anyway, according to new data on the job market.
After a steady drumbeat of declining financial markets and worsening fears over Europe’s fortunes, the report is a bit of a respite for the Obama administration. But it also allows Republicans to press their attack on the continued struggles of the economy.
Click to see a graphic with more U.S. unemployment statistics for September.
The nation added 103,000 jobs in September, the Labor Department said Friday, and added 99,000 more in the previous two months than had earlier been estimated. While nowhere near enough to put the nation’s millions of jobless back to work — the unemployment rate was unchanged at 9.1 percent — the fresh data were enough to ease fears of sliding into an outright contraction in the economy. It was merely mediocre, not the horrible result that some economists had feared.
“It should help calm some of the fears that the economy is falling back into recession,” said Michelle Meyer, a senior economist at Bank of America Merrill Lynch.
Job creation was softer than it appeared at first glance — it was inflated by 45,000 Verizon workers on strike in August who went back to work in September. But against a backdrop of turbulent global financial markets, fears of a deep new financial crisis in Europe and widespread fears of a double-dip downturn, the numbers offer a measure of reassurance that employers are merely slowing their hiring, not slashing positions.
The White House pointed to the soft job-creation numbers as reason for Congress to either pass President Obama’s $447 billion job creation plan or find an alternative that might help growth. It came after a week in which House Republican leaders rejected the president’s plan as written, but some Republicans have signaled openness to aspects of the plan, such as continuing a payroll tax cut scheduled to expire at the end of the year.
“The jobs numbers were better than projected, but nowhere near the type of job growth we need to reduce unemployment and start getting the long-term unemployed back to work,” Gene B. Sperling, who heads the White House National Economic Council, said in an interview. “Anyone who suggests that we should not take bold action on jobs immediately is essentially saying that projections of weak growth and over 9 percent unemployment are good enough for them. It’s certainly not satisfactory for the president.”
On Capitol Hill, Republicans blamed failed White House leadership for the still-high unemployment rate. House Speaker John A. Boehner (Ohio) said in a statement that the report “underscores the urgency for both parties to find common ground on common-sense solutions to create a better environment for private-sector job creation.”
“Our unemployment rate has been higher than 8 percent for more than 21 / 2 years, far above what the Obama administration promised with the ‘stimulus,’ ” Boehner said. “For many groups, including teenagers, Hispanics and African Americans, the jobless rate is even higher. These sad numbers show that more Washington spending, threats of higher taxes on small businesses and excessive government regulations don’t create a healthy environment for job growth.”
The Post Most: BusinessMost-viewed stories, videos and galleries int he past two hours
World Markets from
Other Market Data from
Key Rates from
Loading...
Comments