1. http://www.europac.net/videoblog.asp?a=watch
2. WASHINGTON (AFP) - – Hopes for a quick US economic rebound were dashed as data showed US employers cut 85,000 jobs in December while the unemployment rate held at 10.0 percent.
Analysts said the report highlighted a slow and painful recovery from recession, while President Barack Obama on Friday said it shows "that the road to recovery is never straight."
The Labor Department report on nonfarm payrolls was far worse than the consensus expectation for no change in overall employment levels.
The unemployment rate meanwhile was in line with expectations, remaining near its highest level since the 1980s, but also reflected a large number of people dropping out of the workforce.
In revising data for prior months, the data showed a net gain of 4,000 jobs in November instead of a loss of 11,000 previously reported, the first positive month after 22 months of losses.
Obama said the report highlights the need for more efforts to create jobs.
The figures "are a reminder that the road to recovery is never straight and that we have to continue to work every single day to get our economy moving again," Obama said as he unveiled plans for tax credits for "green jobs."
Still, he said the employment picture is better than when he began as president, when the economy was shedding some 700,000 jobs per month.
"The overall trend of job loss is still pointing in the right direction," he added.
Economists said the news was disappointing but consistent with a gradually healing economy.
"We're getting a steady but very slow improvement in the job market," said Robert MacIntosh, economist at Eaton Vance.
"We are going to have to get used to a frustratingly high unemployment rate."
Cary Leahey, senior economist at the research firm Decision Economics, called the data consistent with a still-sluggish economy.
"The labor market is struggling and is stuck in the water," he said.
"You are seeing gains in output and manufacturing because of liquidation of inventories... but we haven't seen a decisive turn in the labor market."
The world's biggest economy expanded at a 2.2 percent pace in the third quarter after four quarters of decline in the worst recession in decades.
Most analysts expect continued growth for the fourth quarter and 2010 but say recovery could be held back by unemployment, which hurts consumer spending and confidence.
"It is starting to look like those in the U-shaped recovery camp are in better shape than those in the V-shaped recovery camp," said Ian Pollick, economics strategist at TD Securities.
"While the worst of the recession is likely over, the fact that the duration of unemployment remains rigid is a concern, though a silver lining is that we are likely to see net job creation assisted by census hiring in the first quarter of 2010."
The December report showed the goods-producing sector shed 81,000 jobs including 27,000 in manufacturing and 53,000 in construction.
The services sector lost a modest 4,000 jobs, with a loss of 10,000 in retail offset by gains in education, health care and professional services. Government sector employment fell by 21,000.
Average hours worked, sometimes seen as a proxy for economic activity, was unchanged in December. Average hourly earnings meanwhile rose 0.2 percent.
The civilian labor force fell by 661,000 in the month, suggesting that more people are stopping their search for employment.
"The unchanged unemployment rate of 10 percent understates labor market slack, since labor force participation fell sharply," said Sophia Koropeckyj at Moody's Economy.com.
"Accordingly, the broader measure (of unemployment) increased to 17.3 percent," she s
3.
Unemployment hits 10% across eurozone
AFP
AFP - Saturday, January 9
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BRUSSELS (AFP) - – Ten people in a hundred who could be working are now unemployed across the 16 countries that use the euro, the EU said on Friday as the human cost of the economic crisis was laid bare.
New figures for November 2009 showed that the seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate hit a miserable 10.0 percent, with 102,000 more people left without their own income compared to October.
In Spain, one of continental Europe's biggest economies, the rate has now hit a shocking 19.4 percent.
Experts have repeatedly expressed fears of a double-dip recession on the Iberian peninsula, which could itself stunt nascent recovery among neighbours already struggling with unfavourable exchange rates against the dollar and the Chinese yuan.
And trade figures released on Friday by the German national statistics office showed that China has surpassed euro powerhouse Germany as the world's leading exporter for the first time -- further dampening fears of a meaningful recovery throughout 2010.
Unemployment is the last indicator to turn around as economies re-configure to get over the pain of recession.
As if to underline the problem, the world's biggest brewer Anheuser-Busch InBev announced Friday it plans to cut 10 percent of its 8,000-strong workforce across Europe.
While Europe formally exited recession in the third quarter of last year, with 0.4 percent eurozone growth and downwards-adjusted 0.3 percent growth across the EU as a whole, figures confirmed on Friday, still-rising jobless numbers will act as a brake on consumption and economic renewal.
Already, the latest data showed that more than three million people have exited the eurozone workforce over the past 12 months, when the rate stood at 8.0 percent, and almost five million more across the full, 27-member European Union.
The Eurostat agency estimated that 22.899 million men and women across the EU -- which also takes in non-euro and recession-mired Britain as well as eastern industrial powerhouse Poland -- were out of work in the run-up to Christmas.
Of those, 15.712 million were in the euro economy.
The unemployment rate throughout the EU as a whole was registered at 9.5 percent in November.
Male unemployment rose much more sharply over the past year than female unemployment, with youth unemployment having increased at a similar rate, by almost a third.
More than one in five among the under-25 age group are now out of work both in the eurozone and the full EU.
Howard Archer of IHS Global Insight analysts said that the figures will likely "rise significantly" still, despite being held down to an extent by even sluggish growth and "government jobs support in a number of countries (most notably in Germany)."
He added that "modest wage growth" would also impede growth prospects.
The wider picture was illustrated sharply on Thursday by a fall in euro retail sales and with the Bank of England leaving its key interest rate at a record low.
Fears abound for stretched households across the continent over the impact of rising credit repayments when interest rates begin to rise.
Meanwhile, analysts also cite a real risk that action to slash Greece's massive public deficit will only trigger a severe contraction in its economy there.
2. WASHINGTON (AFP) - – Hopes for a quick US economic rebound were dashed as data showed US employers cut 85,000 jobs in December while the unemployment rate held at 10.0 percent.
Analysts said the report highlighted a slow and painful recovery from recession, while President Barack Obama on Friday said it shows "that the road to recovery is never straight."
The Labor Department report on nonfarm payrolls was far worse than the consensus expectation for no change in overall employment levels.
The unemployment rate meanwhile was in line with expectations, remaining near its highest level since the 1980s, but also reflected a large number of people dropping out of the workforce.
In revising data for prior months, the data showed a net gain of 4,000 jobs in November instead of a loss of 11,000 previously reported, the first positive month after 22 months of losses.
Obama said the report highlights the need for more efforts to create jobs.
The figures "are a reminder that the road to recovery is never straight and that we have to continue to work every single day to get our economy moving again," Obama said as he unveiled plans for tax credits for "green jobs."
Still, he said the employment picture is better than when he began as president, when the economy was shedding some 700,000 jobs per month.
"The overall trend of job loss is still pointing in the right direction," he added.
Economists said the news was disappointing but consistent with a gradually healing economy.
"We're getting a steady but very slow improvement in the job market," said Robert MacIntosh, economist at Eaton Vance.
"We are going to have to get used to a frustratingly high unemployment rate."
Cary Leahey, senior economist at the research firm Decision Economics, called the data consistent with a still-sluggish economy.
"The labor market is struggling and is stuck in the water," he said.
"You are seeing gains in output and manufacturing because of liquidation of inventories... but we haven't seen a decisive turn in the labor market."
The world's biggest economy expanded at a 2.2 percent pace in the third quarter after four quarters of decline in the worst recession in decades.
Most analysts expect continued growth for the fourth quarter and 2010 but say recovery could be held back by unemployment, which hurts consumer spending and confidence.
"It is starting to look like those in the U-shaped recovery camp are in better shape than those in the V-shaped recovery camp," said Ian Pollick, economics strategist at TD Securities.
"While the worst of the recession is likely over, the fact that the duration of unemployment remains rigid is a concern, though a silver lining is that we are likely to see net job creation assisted by census hiring in the first quarter of 2010."
The December report showed the goods-producing sector shed 81,000 jobs including 27,000 in manufacturing and 53,000 in construction.
The services sector lost a modest 4,000 jobs, with a loss of 10,000 in retail offset by gains in education, health care and professional services. Government sector employment fell by 21,000.
Average hours worked, sometimes seen as a proxy for economic activity, was unchanged in December. Average hourly earnings meanwhile rose 0.2 percent.
The civilian labor force fell by 661,000 in the month, suggesting that more people are stopping their search for employment.
"The unchanged unemployment rate of 10 percent understates labor market slack, since labor force participation fell sharply," said Sophia Koropeckyj at Moody's Economy.com.
"Accordingly, the broader measure (of unemployment) increased to 17.3 percent," she s
3.
Unemployment hits 10% across eurozone
AFP
AFP - Saturday, January 9
* Send
* IM Story
BRUSSELS (AFP) - – Ten people in a hundred who could be working are now unemployed across the 16 countries that use the euro, the EU said on Friday as the human cost of the economic crisis was laid bare.
New figures for November 2009 showed that the seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate hit a miserable 10.0 percent, with 102,000 more people left without their own income compared to October.
In Spain, one of continental Europe's biggest economies, the rate has now hit a shocking 19.4 percent.
Experts have repeatedly expressed fears of a double-dip recession on the Iberian peninsula, which could itself stunt nascent recovery among neighbours already struggling with unfavourable exchange rates against the dollar and the Chinese yuan.
And trade figures released on Friday by the German national statistics office showed that China has surpassed euro powerhouse Germany as the world's leading exporter for the first time -- further dampening fears of a meaningful recovery throughout 2010.
Unemployment is the last indicator to turn around as economies re-configure to get over the pain of recession.
As if to underline the problem, the world's biggest brewer Anheuser-Busch InBev announced Friday it plans to cut 10 percent of its 8,000-strong workforce across Europe.
While Europe formally exited recession in the third quarter of last year, with 0.4 percent eurozone growth and downwards-adjusted 0.3 percent growth across the EU as a whole, figures confirmed on Friday, still-rising jobless numbers will act as a brake on consumption and economic renewal.
Already, the latest data showed that more than three million people have exited the eurozone workforce over the past 12 months, when the rate stood at 8.0 percent, and almost five million more across the full, 27-member European Union.
The Eurostat agency estimated that 22.899 million men and women across the EU -- which also takes in non-euro and recession-mired Britain as well as eastern industrial powerhouse Poland -- were out of work in the run-up to Christmas.
Of those, 15.712 million were in the euro economy.
The unemployment rate throughout the EU as a whole was registered at 9.5 percent in November.
Male unemployment rose much more sharply over the past year than female unemployment, with youth unemployment having increased at a similar rate, by almost a third.
More than one in five among the under-25 age group are now out of work both in the eurozone and the full EU.
Howard Archer of IHS Global Insight analysts said that the figures will likely "rise significantly" still, despite being held down to an extent by even sluggish growth and "government jobs support in a number of countries (most notably in Germany)."
He added that "modest wage growth" would also impede growth prospects.
The wider picture was illustrated sharply on Thursday by a fall in euro retail sales and with the Bank of England leaving its key interest rate at a record low.
Fears abound for stretched households across the continent over the impact of rising credit repayments when interest rates begin to rise.
Meanwhile, analysts also cite a real risk that action to slash Greece's massive public deficit will only trigger a severe contraction in its economy there.
