WASHINGTON - Just when it was beginning to look a little better, the economy relapsed Friday with a return to double-digit unemployment for only the second time since World War II and warnings that next year will be even worse than previously thought.
The jobless rate rocketed to 10.2 percent in October, the highest since early 1983, dealing a psychological blow to Americans as they prepare holiday shopping lists. It was another worse-than-expected report casting a shadow over the struggling recovery.
President Barack Obama called it "a sobering number that underscores the economic challenges that lie ahead." He signed a measure to extend unemployment benefits and to expand a tax credit for homebuyers.
Economists had not expected the 10 percent mark to come so quickly and immediately darkened their forecasts. Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Economy.com, and Joshua Shapiro, chief U.S. economist at MFR Inc., predicted the rate will peak at 11 percent by mid-2010. They earlier had projected 10.5 percent.
Unemployment at 11 percent would be a post-World War II record. Only once since then has joblessness hit double digits in the United States - from September 1982 to July 1983, topping out at 10.8 percent.
The Labor Department, using a survey of company payrolls, said the economy shed 190,000 jobs in October. A separate survey of households found 558,000 more people were unemployed last month than in September. Some 15.7 million Americans are out of work.
The survey of companies doesn't count the self-employed and undercounts employees of small businesses. So the economic picture could be even more dire.
One struggling small business, homebuilder Miller and Smith Inc. of McLean, Va., has trimmed its work force to about 100 from 350 at the height of the housing market in 2005. The company has been hurt by a slowdown in building and surging health care costs.
Troubles for small businesses could have a disproportionate effect on the economy, because they account for about 60 percent of the nation's jobs. They tend to rely on credit cards and home equity lines - both of which banks have tightened - for cash flow.
And the unemployment rate doesn't include people without jobs who have stopped looking, or those who have settled for part-time jobs. Counting those people, the unemployment rate would be 17.5 percent, the highest since at least 1994.
Economists had expected unemployment to rise to no more than 9.9 percent, up just a tick from September's 9.8 percent, and the surprising jump added to fears that the recovery could fizzle if Americans don't spend.
Already, consumer confidence for October came in well below what analysts were expecting. Shoppers' sentiments about the state of the economy are the gloomiest in nearly three decades.
Stores, always with an eye on holiday sales, are especially worried this year.
"This is a situation where the recovery balloon is getting off the ground but might not have enough power to keep rising," said Brian Bethune, economist at IHS Global Insight.
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LibertyOrDeath says...
This is like the husband or wife who, even though caught in bed with another, continues to lie and deny.
Just admit it already so we can either get on fixing it or get on dealing with it.
These ignorant stories two and three times a week serve absolutely no purpose other than to keep the citizens hanging on to every last word, hoping, praying, just wishing someone would tell them it's all okay.
You people have no soul and should be ashamed of yourselves. Do something good for the community, would ya.
Admit that this is a mess, so we can begin to asses what needs done.
Admit that nothing done so far has helped or will help, like the real experts with PROVEN records have been telling us.
Admit that everything done so far has been calculated to put the people at the mercy of their tyrannical government for purposes more frightening than 9/11 or Ft. Hood.
Admit that we can only depend on each other that we can begin the healing process.
November 7, 2009 at 6:45 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
WhoisJohnGalt says...
United States government external debt is now 94% of Gross Domestic Product. No one I know could run a household or business that way. And the government keeps printing money in the name of "stimulus". We are a complacent nation being duped by those in power that tell us what we want to hear. And the beat goes on......
November 7, 2009 at 7:24 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
azmaggie says...
Oh but obama says the recesson is over!
November 7, 2009 at 7:40 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
heritage_sarahhochschwender says...
that "whooshing" noise you hear is the dollar falling. we are returning to post WW2 but this time WE are germany.
November 7, 2009 at 8 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
LibertyOrDeath says...
I agree with Dale - I'm done being polite. Being polite has gotten us NOWHERE and has actually set us back.
Anyone who wants to fundamentally change America has no business here. We've got our problems but it's us and us alone who can fix them. No one knows your business better than you do.
What needs to happen is people just need to start being honest with themselves and admit that they control their own destiny. I realize that's a scary fact for most who live comfortably numb - but when your comfort ruins my country I take it personally.
Get up, get out and do something for yourself. I'm off to do a ton of work to the car this weekend because I'm capable and I'm motivated. I don't need a government-run warranty because I was too stupid to do the homework on a $20K investment.
I can take care of myself and so can damn near everyone else. I'm sick and tired of hearing the takers whine about what isn't being done for them.
Make it on your own two feet or get to using those feet to get lost. We don't need or want your kind. The Mexicans that everyone complains about are more motivated than the large majority of lazy, whiny Americans who've had it so good that it actually became a crutch.
Reality check - people were farming and living prosperously long before the White House and Wall Street. We don't need those losers telling us how to screw up. We will be farming long after their demise as well.
We are capable.
November 7, 2009 at 8:29 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
striped_tigerfan says...
Something to ponder....it seems that all people can be classified into two diverse groups - either "givers" or "takers". Regardless of wealth or poverty, race, nationality or gender, we all fall under one or the other of the categories. Think about people you know...isn't this true? The problem today is that we have more "takers" than "givers".
November 7, 2009 at 9:32 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
mm1967 says...
LibertyorDeath,
I am one of the millions of unemployment americans since my plant closed down in the area and I was the number 2 in charge and had to stand there and tell several hundred employees that they were not going to have a job due to the company closing our plant and merging it with one of their other plants.
It was very difficult for me to have to tell all of these people this and knowing what the job market is like right now.
There is not a day that goes by I do not think of those people I had to tell and the looks on their faces.Not to mention the fact that Christmas is coming.
And then there are people like you that think there must be jobs falling from the sky.Most people want to take care of themselves and there are some that would rather be on assistance.But most of the so called whinners you speak of just want JOBS for they can take care of their responsibilities.
November 7, 2009 at 12:57 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
StJoeMoe says...
If anyone thought it really was getting better, they are either totally clueless and truly need help or they are part of the problem and want to continue to assure us everything is OK.
And the worst is yet to come - there are no jobs coming in any real numbers, and those on unemployement will be running out soon and/or will eventually, then the default rates will truly skyrocket and the walls, the walls may come crumbling down.
Tough times ahead, I can not understand how all these road repaving projects are a part of the recovery.
Oh, has anyone else noticed how many companies are leaving America?
Haliburton, for example, left for Qatar.
I better quit now, this is Missouri, they have to "Show Me" better times are ahead, talk is cheap......
November 7, 2009 at 3:03 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
terrebatu says...
dale-Yeah I'm sure team mccain/palin would of had this mess cleaned up by now. Still the same exact players that caused this mess. This isn't a republican or democrat problem, this is OUR problem. idiot.
lod-dude go burn one and relax.
November 7, 2009 at 4:56 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
LibertyOrDeath says...
MM1967,
Why can't you go out to USA 800? There are a TON of gas stations hiring right now - you can't go there? There are a ton of fast food joints with signs in the window, you can't go there? Trucking companies are hiring, you can't go there?
No, whiner, there are jobs to be had but I can bet my bank account there are only one of two reasons you won't go to those places...
1) What you would make at 40 hours at those places is less than your unemployment so that's just not good math.
2) You think your only skill is to work in a factory and that someone else needs to get off their butt so they can have the glorious opportunity to GIVE you a job,
Am I close? Please, enlighten me. Are you one of the Smurfitt guys, by the way?
November 8, 2009 at 7:29 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
LibertyOrDeath says...
terrabutu, your boy has done nothing but exacerbate an already gigantic problem.
Of course McCain wouldn't have had us out of this mess by now - they're all in the same damn boat. It's amusing you try and dismiss Dale's comment by saying McCain was a tool and then follow it up saying it has nothing to do with red v. blue.
Idiot.
November 8, 2009 at 8:08 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
joz1984 says...
wow the one person to say something inteligent is labeled ignorant white trash well the reality is that whether we like it or not the economy is suffering and people are suffering from this fact, the economy hasn't been great for a while and will take time to rebound and for confidence to be restored obama doesn't have a magic wand to fix it nor does anyone there are many factors to the problem. This towns economy has been bad for a long time. If you look around our town economy is based on restaurants and shops not the most high paying jobs but this town is against progress anyway
November 8, 2009 at 10:57 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
mm1967 says...
Libertyor Death,
First off as if it is any of your damn business I have sent resumes out and have applied to several places I am not just sitting on my A$$ and not doing anything pin head.I also probably will be going back to school for more education.
Second I was a manager and made over 70,000 a year so I am not hurting and am not recieving any aid from anybody.I am drawing my unemployment which I might remind you I worked for and that is what it is there for.I will find a job and it will be easier for me then the ones I had to tell they did not have a job.Its people like you why our country is in the mess it is.
And for your information I was not one of the Smurfit guys.I think their plant closed several months ago and ours was just recently and not in St Joseph.
I also will tell you I am not a uneducated individual and will find a job I have only been with out for around a month.
So your assumptions about me are totally wrong and if I cannot find a job in my field I will accept something else.Which by the way my career is more then just working in a factory I help run them pin head and by the way there is nothing wrong with factory workers.If it was not for factory workers the chair you A$$ is sitting in would not be there and you would be on the floor.You might also want tot think about it if all of those jobs you are talking about are out there how long do you think they will be there if there are not better paying jobs to support them.
November 8, 2009 at 5:40 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
mm1967 says...
dalearch,
I think your comment on Nov 7th at 9:29pm toward people and calling then white trash was totally uncalled for.Do you think you are any better for calling people this.I find your comment appoling and it should be removed.
November 8, 2009 at 5:44 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
sense says...
this is not a republican or a democrate, or an political problem. It is corportate greed problem. Companies care not about people, their lives, they only care about the bottom line. Here are our problems
Our economy for the last decade was built on a lie, our economy grew from people buying what they could not afford. Loans made to those they should never been made.
We don't build anything here. Since our economy is now on buying instead of selling, we need to build cheap so we keep buying. That means send jobs oversees, cheaper labor. No more plants in America.
Republicans trust corportates to much thinking thier wealth flows down - it dosen't.
Democrates create to much big goverment -
As Jessie the body Ventura said when Governer of Minnesota, you can't legislate against stupiity - you can't legislate against greed, no matter what you do, people will sell each other out for the almighty buck.
November 8, 2009 at 6:04 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
mm1967 says...
LiberyorDeath
Heres some more for you to think about.What generations are getting hurt in this economy and job market the most.
The ones in their mid 40,s and 50s, and early 60,s before they can retire.Our employers would rather hire a young person over a older person for several reasons.
1.The employer is going to have this person longer in their company.
2.The college grads coming out want a job as we all do but are willing to do the same job for less so employers are going to hire these people first.
3.Also what do you do when employers tell you they will not hire you because you are over qualified but these are the only jobs avalible at the present time?
We could go on and on but these are the types of things you fail to see.
November 8, 2009 at 8 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
dalearch says...
"mm1967 November 8, 2009 at 5:44 p.m. (Suggest removal)
dalearch,
I think your comment on Nov 7th at 9:29pm toward people and calling then white trash was totally uncalled for.Do you think you are any better for calling people this.I find your comment appoling and it should be removed."
Wwaahhh:wwaahhh:wwaahhh.
November 8, 2009 at 8:23 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
mm1967 says...
That shows your maturity doesn't it.
November 8, 2009 at 8:26 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
dalearch says...
I'm merely bringing myself down to your level.
November 8, 2009 at 10:43 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
mm1967 says...
I'm sorry but I have never talked about people like you have so I quess you are sadly mistaken.We won't talk about what level you belong in.good day.
November 9, 2009 at 5:28 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
donaldo says...
when you are born with a silver spoon in your mouth it tends to tarnish after a few years.calling people names is a way to take the eyes off of you ,so you don't look so bad. you cant change individuals like this,they are just bred to believe they are so much better. we all have an opinion, some of us should just keep some of them to ourselves for fear of looking misinformed. like thumpers mom said, if you cant say something nice, don't say anything at all.
November 9, 2009 at 9:27 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
mm1967 says...
Well I guess Libertyordeath I must have ht a point with you and you have no reply.
November 9, 2009 at 3:15 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )