Unemployment rate unexpectedly soars to 6.1%

[Cold Warrior]

Unemployment rate unexpectedly soars to 6.1%
Nonfarm payrolls fall by 84,000 in August, more than expected

By Greg Robb, MarketWatch

Last update: 9:13 a.m. EDT Sept. 5, 2008Comments: 93WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- The unemployment rate soared to 6.1% in August, the highest rate in almost five years, as the economy took a turn for the worse. The rate has steadily climbed this year from a cycle low of 4.4%.

U.S. stock futures dropped sharply after the data were released Friday morning.

Nonfarm payrolls decreased by 84,000, the Labor Department reported Friday, more than the 75,000 drop expected by economists surveyed by MarketWatch. See Economic Calendar.

"It looks pretty dismal. The theme [is] of a U.S. economy sliding ever so surely into recession," said Michael Gregory, a senior economist at BMO Capital Markets in Toronto. In the months ahead, job losses of more than 100,000 will be much more commonplace, he said.

The factory sector, especially the auto industry, shed jobs in August. Employment services, considered a bellwether of future labor-market trends, also had sharp losses.

The weak labor market is sure to rekindle fears of an incipient recession among traders. Economists have been warning that the economy appeared to be stalling, but Wall Street was dazzled late last month by the strong 3.3% GDP growth reported in the April-June quarter.

Other aspects of the report pointed toward a weakening labor market.
Payroll losses in the previous two months were larger than previously estimated.

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[PoliCon]

unexpectedly? The rate almost always goes up right before an election. Factor in the rise in the minimum wage and kids going back to school and there are more people unemployed today.

[Cold Warrior]

unexpectedly? The rate almost always goes up right before an election.

They were predicting a loss of 75000 jobs and a rate holding at 5.9%. Also, jobs were predicted to rebound in the second half of the year. They're clearly not as we've now had 8 straight months of job losses.

But, we can always blame it on Jimmah Carter.

[lacarnut]

They were predicting a loss of 75000 jobs and a rate holding at 5.9%. Also, jobs were predicted to rebound in the second half of the year. They're clearly not as we've now had 8 straight months of job losses.

But, we can always blame it on Jimmah Carter.

Betwee the do nothing Congress and the favortie in this election, Obama, Business's are not hiring at this juncture. More like they are laying off because of uncertainity. Have you noticed the stock market lately? That makes more sense than your stupid anology regarding the Prez.

[Cold Warrior]

Betwee the do nothing Congress and the favortie in this election, Obama, Business's are not hiring at this juncture. More like they are laying off because of uncertainity. Have you noticed the stock market lately? That makes more sense than your stupid anology regarding the Prez.

Sorry, the Peanut Prez isn't my mantra, but rather that of others here. Along with, of course, it was higher than this during the evil Clinton presidency (failing to note that it was higher in the first couple of years inherited from GHWB and fell pretty consistently after that).

[LogansPapa]

NEGATIVE NANCY! What's the matter with you!? Don't trot out reality in the last 60 days before the election!:mad:

[Cold Warrior]

NEGATIVE NANCY! What's the matter with you!? Don't trot out reality in the last 60 days before the election!:mad:

Well, who says you can't learn anything here. I just learned that Obama, by having the audacity to run for president, is responsible for the worsening economic mess in this country. And, of course, we all know that for the last two years at least the Congress is also to blame. I, in my naivite, would have supposed that the Idiot Child and his administration might have had some role to play in it.

[SaintLouieWoman]

Betwee the do nothing Congress and the favortie in this election, Obama, Business's are not hiring at this juncture. More like they are laying off because of uncertainity. Have you noticed the stock market lately? That makes more sense than your stupid anology regarding the Prez.

Stuart Varney on Fox just commented that the dems will be expected to take these numbers and run with them. What they aren't saying is that the economies of Japan and China are slowing down, worse than the downturn in the US. It's all in the spin. If you're a dim and negative nelly, of course they'll do that spin.

[linda22003]

I don't even want to look at the market today. :mad:

[LogansPapa]

A Republican president has very little to do with anything that happens to the US economy during his (and should I now say her?) administration - unless, of course, everything’s rosy in that department.