The Bush's/ Chenny/ Rumsfeld / Rice/ Paul war
against terrorism now proved to be very wise, also their diffusion of the mass
destruction weapons piled in Iraq and Tura Bora caves of Afghanistan was a
great success, and we can see the results below. S1000+
PS/ I wonder why the Americans do not thank their great leaders like Bush and
Rumsfeld
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/business/story/0,28124,25019938-36375,00.html
US job losses biggest since 1974
Brian Blackstone
| February 07, 2009
Article from:
The Wall Street Journal
US
employment plunged in January by the most in three-decades, bringing
total job losses since the recession started in December 2007 to 3.6
million.
Half of those losses occurred in the last three
months alone, and the stepped-up pace of layoffs in recent months
suggests no end in sight to the economic downturn.
The
report, which included another sharp rise in the unemployment rate to a
16-year high, upped the heat on US lawmakers to enact a large fiscal
stimulus package.
Non-farm payrolls, which are calculated by a
survey of establishments, tumbled 598,000 in January, the US Labour
Department said, the most since December 1974 and well above the
525,000 drop Wall Street economists in a Dow Jones Newswires
The
US "is contracting greatly," said Christina Romer, head of the White
House Council of Economic Advisers, and the jobs data "reinforce the
need for bold fiscal action".
The Government included
revisions for all of 2008, which showed the US lost about 3 million
jobs last year, roughly 400,000 more than first thought. In the 12
months through January, the economy shed more jobs over that timeframe
since the government started compiling those figures in 1939.
"Job
losses in January were large and widespread across the major industry
sectors," said Keith Hall, commissioner of the Bureau of Labour
Statistics.
Mirroring the employment data, a Who's Who from
Corporate America including Caterpillar, Home Depot, Black & Decker
and Microsoft all announced layoffs in January.
The
unemployment rate, which is calculated using a survey of households,
jumped 0.4 percentage point to 7.6 per cent, the highest since
September 1992. Employment in the household survey plummeted by more
than 1.2 million. Some economists think the jobless rate may hit 9 per
cent in coming months.
"Probably for the next couple of months
we'll see this hemorrhaging continuing," said Bill DeMario, president
of Ajilon Professional Staffing, a unit of Adecco. "At this point it's
kind of becoming self-perpetuating," as companies adjust to the
recession.
By some broader gauges labour-market conditions are
even worse than the main numbers suggest. When marginally attached and
involuntary part-time workers are included, the rate of unemployed or
underemployed workers actually reached 13.9 per cent last month, up
almost five percentage points from a year earlier. The
employment-to-population ratio was the lowest since 1986.
"By
every measure available - loss of employment and hours, rise of
unemployment, shrinkage of the employment to population rate - this
recession is steeper than any recession of the last 40 years, including
the harsh recession of the early 1980s," said Lawrence Mishel,
president of the Economic Policy Institute, a liberal think tank in
Washington, DC.
With no more room to lower official interest
rates, which are near zero, Fed policymakers now have to rely on
quantitative easing through the Fed's balance sheet to pump money into
the financial system. Officials will likely face more pressure to widen
their efforts to perhaps even include purchases of longer-term Treasury
securities.
Average hourly earnings increased a modest $US0.05, or 0.3 per cent, to
$US18.46. That was up 3.9 per cent from one year ago.
The
job losses, along with grim automobile and retailer sales reports,
suggest that the economy hasn't stabilised after the fourth quarter's
3.8 per cent slide in gross domestic product, which was the steepest
since 1982.
According to the non-farm payrolls report, hiring
last month in goods-producing industries plunged by over 300,000.
Within this group, manufacturing firms cut 207,000 jobs, the most since
the 1982 recession, with losses concentrated in fabricated metals and
motor vehicles and parts.
Construction employment was down by 111,000.
Service-sector
employment tumbled 279,000. Business and professional services
companies shed 121,000 jobs, the third-straight six-figure loss, and
financial-sector payrolls were down 42,000.
Retail trade cut
over 45,000 jobs, the 12th-straight loss, while leisure and hospitality
businesses shed 28,000, as households curtail nonessential spending.
Temporary employment, which economists consider a leading indicator of future
job prospects, fell by more than 76,000.
Among
the sole bright spots were health care and education, which tend to be
more labour intensive and less productive than manufacturing and other
services. Employment in those sectors together rose 54,000.
The Government added 6,000 jobs.
The
average workweek was unchanged at 33.3 hours, though that's still down
sharply from one year ago. A separate index of aggregate weekly hours
fell 0.7 points to 102.6. survey expected. December was revised to show an
even steeper decline of 577,000.
===================News chief says downturn more severe than
forecasthttp://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,25015829-7582,00.html
NEWS Corporation chairman Rupert Murdoch today
said the economic crisis was the worst he has known as the group
reduced its annual earnings forecasts and booked $US8.4 billion in
non-cash writedowns.
Positive: News
Corporation's balance sheet was strong, with $US4.6 billion in cash and
sufficient reserves to cover all imminent refinancing events, chairman
Rupert Murdoch said.
“This is the worst global economic crisis we have witnessed since News
Corp was established more than 50 years ago,” Mr Murdoch told analysts
on a conference call this morning.
Three months ago, News, owner of The Australian, predicted annual earnings to
decline in the “low to mid-teens” from last year.
But
worsening advertising conditions meant annual earnings are now forecast
to fall 30 per cent from the $US5.13 billion ($7.86 billion) recorded
the previous year.
That would bring the annual result back to $US3.59 billion.
Chief
operating officer Peter Chernin said all News Corp's advertising-driven
businesses had weakened, including newspapers, TV and the US pay-TV
networks.
Weaker discretionary spending also hurt News’ DVD and book sales, he said.
In
the six months to December, News reported a 28 per cent decline in
operating income to $US1.7 billion, but the losses worsened in the
second quarter, with earnings down 42 per cent to $US818 million.
“Our results for the quarter are a direct reflection of the grim economic
climate,” Mr Murdoch said in a statement.
“While we anticipated a weakening, the downturn is more severe and likely
longer lasting than previously thought.
“As
a result, we have been taking actions to preserve a solid level of
operational profitability and a strong balance sheet without
sacrificing future growth.”
The only business segments to
record growth in the quarter were the US pay-TV business, which lifted
operating earnings 27 per cent to $US428 million, and magazines, where
earnings lifted $US1 million to $US86 million.
The greatest
falls were in the film unit (down 72 per cent to $US112 million) and US
free-to-air TV (down 92 per cent to $US18 million).
At the newspaper group, operating earnings fell 8.6 per cent to $US179 million.
The
UK group, which includes The Times, reported earnings “in line” with
last year, but the Australian division's earnings fell 18 per cent in
the second quarter. But for the half, overall advertising revenues were
4 per cent below the results of a year ago.
News was also forced to reduce the carrying value of its US television
stations, given its falling market capitalisation.
Of
the $US8.4 billion in write-downs, the majority ($US4.6 billion) was
for the TV licences, with another $US3.6 billion goodwill writedown.
But
Mr Murdoch maintained that News Corp's balance sheet was strong, with
$US4.6 billion in cash and sufficient reserves to cover all imminent
refinancing events.
And he said all the group's businesses
were well positioned to withstand a lengthy downturn “and to emerge
stronger as the current economic situation improves”.
He said News may never return to its historic highs, but it was positioned to
take advantage of economic recovery.
“Historically, every time we've seen a recession, mild or major, we've endured
this panic and come out better,” he said.
“Every time the economy rebounds, advertising comes back, usually stronger than
before.”
=======
S1000+
=======
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