EconomicCrisis.US

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said the U.S. is facing a crisis with a jobless rate at or above 9 percent since April 2009, and that fiscal discipline would help spur the economic recovery.

“This unemployment situation we have, the jobs situation, is really a national crisis,” Bernanke said in response to questions after a speech yesterday in Cleveland. “We’ve had close to 10 percent unemployment now for a number of years and, of the people who are unemployed, about 45 percent have been unemployed for six months or more. This is unheard of.”
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On May 6, headlines cheered the new jobs report, New York Times writer Motoko Rich headlining, “Payrolls Show Strong Growth but Jobless Rate Rises,” saying:

“For three straight months, the nation’s employers have delivered solid job growth, easing some concerns that the economy could be slowing.”

Bloomberg.com’s Timothy Homan said:

At 244,000, “American employers in April added more jobs than forecast….indicating the world’s largest economy is weathering the impact of higher fuel prices.”

Wall Street Journal writer Sara Murray wrote:
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Companies in the U.S. added workers in April, signaling the labor market is strengthening, data from a private report based on payrolls showed today.

Employment increased by 179,000 in April from a revised 207,000 the prior month, according to figures from ADP Employer Services. The median estimate in the Bloomberg News survey called for a 198,000 advance this month.

The gain in employment projected by ADP may be insufficient to help the economy accelerate after a surge in food and fuel costs caused growth to slow to a 1.8 percent annual rate in the first three months of the year. Businesses added 200,000 jobs in April and the jobless rate held at 8.8 percent, economists project a Labor Department report to show in two days.
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U.S. employers hired more workers in February than in any month since May last year and the unemployment rate fell to a near two-year low, the strongest sign yet the recovery has become self-sustaining.

Nonfarm payrolls increased 192,000, the Labor Department said on Friday, in line with expectations. Data for December and January was revised to show 58,000 more jobs created than previously estimated.

The last time payrolls grew so much was last May, when the government’s hiring of temporary workers for a census boosted payrolls hugely.
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