Arthur,
The 'one bright spot' that McGeehan mentions below -- financial services
businesses - may not be so bright after all, considering Obama's latest
announcement.
Keith
At 10:48 22/01/2010 -0500, you wrote:
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January 22, 2010 NY Times
Citys Jobless Rate Rises to 10.6%, Exceeding Nations
By
<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/m/patrick_mcgeehan/index.html?inline=nyt-per>PATRICK
McGEEHAN
The unemployment rate in New York City jumped in December to 10.6 percent,
its highest level in nearly 17 years, as hotels, museums and builders
eliminated jobs and hiring remained weak in most other businesses, the
State Labor Department said Thursday.
Last month marked the first time since the
<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/r/recession_and_depression/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier>recession
began two years ago that the citys unemployment rate was significantly
higher than the nations. The citys rate rose from 10 percent in November,
while the national rate held steady at 10 percent last month, according to
the Labor Department.
Nearly 425,000 city residents were unable to find jobs in December, easily
the highest total in the 33 years those records have been kept. The
numbers were announced a day after New Jersey officials said that their
states unemployment rate hit a 33-year high of 10.1 percent in December.
New York States unemployment rate also rose, to 9 percent from 8.6 percent
in November.
The citys rate is obviously the most disturbing one in the mix,said M.
Patricia Smith, the state labor commissioner. What this shows is that the
economy is still volatile. People are still nervous about the economy.
Analysts said the unemployment rate could continue rising and was not
likely to reverse direction before midyear. After the last two recessions,
employment in the metropolitan area did not begin to rise for at least 10
months, said James W. Hughes, dean of the Edward J. Bloustein School of
Planning and Public Policy at
<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/r/rutgers_the_state_university/index.html?inline=nyt-org>Rutgers
University.
Were not going to see a return to job growth before the middle of 2010 if
were lucky,Dean Hughes said. The small-business sector still has severe
credit problems. Banks simply arent lending to them. If they dont get
credit, they certainly arent going to be able to start hiring again.
The numbers reflected the damp blanket the long recession cast over the
city during the holidays. The citys restaurants and catering operations
shed about 2,000 jobs in December, a month when the hospitality industry
usually adds to its payroll.
Stores in the city added about 4,500 jobs in the month, but for the entire
holiday season, retail hiring still lagged behind its usual pace, said
James Brown, a Labor Department analyst. Still, Mr. Brown said, Christmas
09 as a whole was actually an improvement from last years disastrous
holiday season.
Mr. Brown said one bright spot in the data was an apparent turnaround on
Wall Street.
Financial-services companies had been among the first to make sharp cuts
in employment as the recession deepened. Those layoffs reverberated
throughout the regional economy because the jobs paid so highly and
supported so many workers in other service businesses.
Now, with some of the big investment banks racking up huge profits again,
they have begun to hire selectively. Wall Street firms added about 1,000
jobs in December, though total employment in finance was still down by
more than 16,000 positions from the end of 2008, the data showed.
It looks like they might be bottoming out,Mr. Brown said.
Statewide, more than 610,000 residents were collecting unemployment
insurance at the end of the year. More than half of them had been
collecting benefits for more than six months.
The fact that we have so many more people on unemployment is evidence of
the fact that they need the benefits longer,Ms. Smith said.
Signaling that the worst is not over, state labor officials are about to
start contacting employers in the city and on Long Island that they fear
might soon resort to layoffs. Using emergency federal funds, they will
offer to help the companies avert or minimize job cuts, Ms. Smith said.
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Keith Hudson, Saltford, England
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