by Asgeir Hoem in Issue 1: Bookends (6 March 2009)
That’s 20,000 jobs disappearing every day. Less jobs means less income, less income means less spending, which will force employers to slash even more jobs. Even though Obama has been moving quickly to get the stimulus package out, economics professor Sun Won Sohn says that “the stimulus won’t have immediate effect on job creation even though some planned layoffs could be cancelled,” and that any significant job growth will not be seen until 2010.
CNN reports that over 12 million (8.1%) Americans are currently unemployed, which is a 25-year high. The jobs lost the last six-month period constitute the worst losses since World War II. Representatives for the North American unit of the Adecco Group, the world’s largest employment firm, expects the unemployment rate to hit 9% within a few months.
What started in the construction, manufacturing and finance has spread to all parts of the economy. 83% of industries have had job losses the last three months. “There’s no place to hide in terms of job losses,” said Lakshman Achuthan (Economic Cycle Research Institute) to the CNN.
