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Unemployment Rate Falls; Few Jobs Added
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Posted On: Friday January 9th, 2004 at 12:00am EST
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Langston's response to new figures showing unemployment rates dropping to 5.7% in December:
"New reports on falling unemployment rates show that the President's Job and Growth Package is working," said Langston. "We at MBDA believe that as the economy continues to grow, minority businesses will continue to prosper." -- National Director : Ronald N. Langston
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The 0.2 percentage point drop nevertheless brought the overall,
seasonally adjusted civilian jobless rate to its lowest level in more
than a year, the Labor Department said Friday. But the
decrease was attributable mostly to the fact that fewer people were
looking for work, it said.
More than 300,000 people gave up their search for jobs and dropped out of
the pool of available workers, said the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
A separate survey of business payrolls showed that employers added only
1,000 positions in December, although economic analysts were expecting
over 100,000 new jobs.
Weak holiday hiring by retailers was to blame for holding back job gains.
Employment in the nation's stores, malls and even gas stations dropped by
38,000 last month, the report said, and manufacturing continued a
41-month slide by losing 26,000 jobs.
For sustained job growth, economists are looking for monthly payroll
gains of 200,000 to 300,000 — a mark the economy is far from reaching.
December marked the fifth consecutive month of payroll gains, however
slight.
Other areas of the economy are surging, while the jobs market has been a
weak link in the recovery. To remain competitive in the global economy
and out of concern that economic improvements wouldn't last, companies
have been hesitant to take on added costs of hiring new full-time
workers. Instead, they have been working their employees longer and
harder. Hence, the productivity of American workers has been at high
levels in recent months.
The painfully slow employment growth has been making life difficult for
job seekers.
Since President Bush (news - web sites) took office, the economy has lost
2.3 million jobs, a statistic that Democrats hope to use against the Bush
as he seeks re-election. The Bush administration contends that stronger
economic growth — helped by the president's three tax cuts — will
eventually lead to more meaningful job creation on a sustained basis. |
SOURCES
Associated Press
By LEIGH STROPE
AP Labor Writer
Copyright 2004 Associated Press.
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