Home | About | Dispute Resolution | Contact
Home | About | Dispute Resolution | Contact
| |||||||
| Politics and Government Politics forum where free speech is alive and well. Free picks and opinions on Obama and McCain are found inside. |
 |
| | Thread Tools | Search this Thread | Display Modes |
03-09-07, 08:08 AM
| #1 | |||||||||||||||||
| EOG Consigliere'  Join Date: Aug 26, 2005 Location: Jawja
Posts: 62,810
|  Unemployment Down and Trade Deficit Shrinks Unemployment Rate Drops to 4.5 Percent  Email this StoryMar 9, 9:05 AM (ET) By JEANNINE AVERSA
The latest snapshot, released by the Labor Department on Friday, offered a somewhat mixed picture of the employment climate. The slight decline in the politically prominent jobless rate, from 4.6 percent in January, came as hundreds of thousand of people left the work force for various reasons. Employers, meanwhile, added 97,000 new jobs to their payrolls in February, the fewest in two years, as bad winter weather forced construction companies to slash 62,000 jobs, the most since 1991. Factories, feeling the strain of the troubled housing and auto industries, also continued to cut jobs. They eliminated 14,000 positions last month. On a more encouraging note, job gains in the previous two months turned out to be stronger than previously estimated. Employers added 226,000 new jobs in December, versus the 206,000 last estimated. Payrolls grew by 146,000 in January, up from a previous estimate of 111,000. The new tally of jobs added to the economy in February was close to economists' forecast for a gain of around 100,000. They had predicted the unemployment rate would hold steady at 4.6 percent. Workers' wages grew quickly last month. Average hourly earnings rose to $17.16, a 0.4 percent increase from January. That was slightly faster than the 0.3 percent gain economists were expecting. Over the 12 months ending in February, wages grew by 4.1 percent. Strong wage growth is welcome by workers and supports consumer spending, a key ingredient to the country's economic health. But a rapid pickup - if sustained and not blunted by other economic forces - can raise fears about inflation. Spiraling inflation would whittle away any wage gains, hurting workers' wallets, and isn't good for the overall economy, either. The Federal Reserve, which had steadily boosted interest rates for two years to fend off inflation, has left rates alone since August. The Fed - which said it will keep a close eye on inflation - meets later this month to consider interest rate policy. The new employment figures come as President Bush continues to get lukewarm ratings for his economic stewardship. Just 41 percent of the public approves of the president's handling of the economy, compared with 57 percent who disapprove, according to an AP-Ipsos poll. Democrats, who accuse Bush of not doing enough to close the gap on economic inequality, say a top priority is getting final agreement in Congress on legislation to boost the federal minimum wage from $5.15 an hour to $7.25 an hour. The wage hasn't budged for nearly 10 years. Democrats also are pushing legislation making it easier for workers to start unions against company wishes. Although construction companies and factories eliminated jobs last month, other employers, including health care providers, financial firms and retailers boosted hiring. Analysts expect the unemployment rate, which dropped to a six-year low of 4.6 percent last year, will creep up this year as economic growth slows. Some believe the jobless rate could climb to close to 5 percent by the end of this year. The economy expanded by 3.3 percent last year, the best showing in two years. Growth, however, is expected to ebb to around 2.7 percent for all of 2007.
The US trade deficit narrowed 3.8 percent in January to 59.1 billion dollars thanks to record-breaking export growth, the Commerce Department said Friday. It was a bigger drop than expected on Wall Street, where analysts saw a deficit of 60.0 billion dollars, and marked the steepest change in the trade figure since October.  An improving trade picture could be good for first-quarter US economic growth, as a higher deficit subtracts from gross domestic product. Total imports fell 0.5 percent to 185.8 billion dollars last month while exports jumped 1.1 percent to a new record of 126.7 billion. US exports of capital goods grew by 1.0 billion dollars from December to January, consumer goods increased 500 million and foods, feeds and beverages went up 300 million. But America's politically sensitive deficit with China surged 12 percent to 21.3 billion dollars, with US consumers as hungry as ever for cheap Chinese products. The US deficit with the European Union slumped 28 percent to 6.5 billion dollars, while the shortfall with Canada grew 23 percent to 6.9 billion. Overall, the United States imported fewer vehicles, parts and engines (down 1.5 billion dollars) and consumer goods (down by 1.4 billion) in January from December. Exports of vehicles and parts also fell, by 700 million dollars, reflecting a deep restructuring underway in the biggest US automakers -- General Motors and Ford. | |||||||||||||||||
|  |
|
03-09-07, 08:30 AM
| #2 |
| EOG Dedicated Join Date: Apr 04, 2006
Posts: 48,468
| Re: Unemployment Down and Trade Deficit Shrinks Dirty in a STATE OF DENIAL .... |
|
| |
|
03-09-07, 08:31 AM
| #3 |
| EOG Dedicated  Join Date: Dec 19, 2005 Location: STATEN ISLAND NY
Posts: 20,983
| Re: Unemployment Down and Trade Deficit Shrinks DIRTY OR YOU DOC???? |
| |
|
03-09-07, 08:38 AM
| #4 |
| EOG Consigliere' Join Date: Aug 26, 2005 Location: Jawja
Posts: 62,810
| Re: Unemployment Down and Trade Deficit Shrinks Devil, funny how all the Doom and Gloom this guy shouts...and none of it ever comes true... sure Housing and Stock markets will be up and down some..they have to correct themselves... but People who have not overextended themselves will be fine... |
|
| |
|
03-09-07, 08:39 AM
| #5 |
| EOG Dedicated Join Date: Apr 04, 2006
Posts: 48,468
| Re: Unemployment Down and Trade Deficit Shrinks Right .... You keep dreaming Einstein ...the world is shifting over to the Euro and this country is NINE TRILLION DOLLARS in debt and growing under Bush I am guessing Math was never one of your strong points |
|
| |
|
03-09-07, 08:43 AM
| #6 |
| EOG Consigliere' Join Date: Aug 26, 2005 Location: Jawja
Posts: 62,810
| Re: Unemployment Down and Trade Deficit Shrinks Doc... Why is it so hard for you to grasp that The American Dollar was over Valued for a long time and is not correcting itself.. Doesn't seem to be Hurting the Economy, INterest Rates, etc... You keep on Dreaming...cause that is what you live in |
|
| |
|
03-09-07, 04:37 PM
| #7 | |
| Business has just picked up  Join Date: Aug 20, 2005
Posts: 10,814
| Re: Unemployment Down and Trade Deficit Shrinks Quote:
National debt counter U. S. National Debt Clock Also the unemployment figure does not count people who's unemployment has ran out, foreclousers at all time highs and homeless shelters running out of beds. | |
|
| |
|
03-09-07, 04:43 PM
| #8 |
| EOG Consigliere' Join Date: Aug 26, 2005 Location: Jawja
Posts: 62,810
| Re: Unemployment Down and Trade Deficit Shrinks Well wrigs... If Home Buying is at a all time High, why wouldn't Foreclosures.. they go hand in hand because there are many who Buy more than they can reasonably afford.... Not Rocket Science.... People are more worried about "Keeping up with the JOneses" instead of what they can afford. And Wrigs ... The National Debt goes up daily with every President, especially during a war, so why is that shocking.... Show me another President during a war (whether you believe in the War or not does not matter) that the Deficit Shrank... In reality the deficit goes up daily on each presidents Watch... It is how often the Government makes Payments to pay the Debt down... And the Last time I checked, Bush didn't write on Check that Congress didn't Authorize.... Time for you lefties to get it under Control if it is MisManaged... |
|
| |
|
03-09-07, 04:43 PM
| #9 |
| EOG Dedicated Join Date: Apr 04, 2006
Posts: 48,468
| Re: Unemployment Down and Trade Deficit Shrinks Wrigley: Things are great ... Ignore that the world is gonna fuck us in the ass by switching to the Euro as good little SHEEP dont know about those issues NINE TRILLION MEANS NOTHING AS DIRTY IS GONNA HIT A 15 TEAM PARLAY NEXT WEEKEND THAT WILL PAYOUT FOR ROUGHLY $400 AND HE IS GOING TO HELP CARVE DOWN THAT AMOUNT |
|
| |
|
03-09-07, 04:47 PM
| #10 | |
| Business has just picked up Join Date: Aug 20, 2005
Posts: 10,814
| Re: Unemployment Down and Trade Deficit Shrinks Quote:
| |
|
| |
|
03-09-07, 04:54 PM
| #11 |
| EOG Dedicated Join Date: Apr 04, 2006
Posts: 48,468
| Re: Unemployment Down and Trade Deficit Shrinks This "war on terror" is disgusting .... Go look at "Butcher Boy" Gonzales and his connection to Bush ... hello??? the MFer changed Bush's drivers license number down here in Austin in the mid 90s to cover up the abortions, coke arrests, etc Rove was fired by Bush 41 in 92 for leaking info to a reporter named Robert Novak HOW BLIND DO FOLKS HAVE TO BE???? |
|
| |
|
03-09-07, 04:55 PM
| #12 |
| EOG Consigliere' Join Date: Aug 26, 2005 Location: Jawja
Posts: 62,810
| Re: Unemployment Down and Trade Deficit Shrinks Did Congress Not Authorize the Use of Force...Sure they did.... Has Congress had the Chance to end this War once they found out he Lied.... Sure they Did.... So who is more to blame... The ones that Lied or the Ones that allows it to keep on Happening... Kinda Like Finding your son doing Coke, and lying about it when asked... If he keeps on doing it under your Roof/Watch... who is to blame...the Kid who just does what he is allowed, or the Parent who does nothing to stop it |
|
| |
Linear Mode
