posted on June 6, 2004 12:04:05 PM new
Business - AP Economic Figures
U.S. Employers Add 248,000 New Jobs in May
Fri Jun 4, 7:43 PM ET
By LEIGH STROPE, AP Labor Writer
WASHINGTON -
U.S. employers hired almost a quarter-million new workers in May, swelling payrolls by nearly 1.2 million for the year so far in a jobs market steadily gaining steam ahead of November's presidential election.
The nation's unemployment rate held steady at 5.6 percent as more jobless workers renewed their searches and re-entered the labor pool, the Labor Department (news - web sites) said Friday.
May's payroll increase of 248,000 was on top of revised employment figures for March and April showing 74,000 more jobs were added than previously reported. Three quarters of the total jobs created this year were added in the past three months.
"These blowout numbers so far this year are the convincing evidence that the economic recovery is here to stay," said Sung Won Sohn, chief economist at Wells Fargo & Co. in Minneapolis. "The last piece of the puzzle, jobs, has fallen into place."
posted on June 6, 2004 12:12:39 PM new
Linda, you keep posting these figures without mentioning that there are still 2 million jobs out there that have been lost, so there is no REAL job growth until the number hits 3 million. It's like me owing the bank a million dollars and posting how wonderful it is if I pay them $10.00 against the loan.
Also, of the million that were hired, how many are making the same salary as they did before?
posted on June 6, 2004 02:56:55 PM new
kraftdinner
We just lost thousands more here in NE Ohio. Wonder where they come up with these figures? Canton is becoming a ghost town with two major employers letting people go.
posted on June 6, 2004 03:09:55 PM new
Also from the AP report...
Last month, 8.2 million people were unemployed. While the overall jobless rate stayed at 5.6 percent, it was much higher among blacks, at 9.9 percent, and Hispanics, at 7 percent. Unemployment was at a 17.2 percent rate among teenagers looking for summer jobs.
"The economy is not yet creating enough jobs to keep pace with workers entering the labor force, and we're still way behind the employment levels of 3 1/2 years ago," said AFL-CIO President John Sweeney. "The painfully slow recovery has left far too many people out."
Some industries lost jobs, including telecommunications, which shed 5,000 positions last month. Also, there were fewer government jobs last month as employment in that sector fell by 27,000.
posted on June 6, 2004 03:51:47 PM new
Hey Linda_K, you have all the stats. Quit trying to deceive people and post what kind of jobs are being created. I bet if you were truthful about your posts people would see that a lot of LOW PAYING JOBS WITH OUT BENEFITS are being counted as jobs. Good for the RICH GREEDY REPUBLICANS but bad for the working and middle class American.
OLD REPUBLICAN LIES ARE TRANSPARENT. VOTE FOR CHANGE AND A BETTER AMERICA. VOTE FOR JOHN KERRY A LEADER WITH BRAINS AND GUTS.
posted on June 6, 2004 09:03:48 PM new
For awhile I've suspected that any new job growth would be war related so I just did a search and found this and I think I'm right in my thinking.
They are cranking out heavily armored Humvees in Ohio.
The frenetic activity is repeated all over the country. New kilns in California bake ceramic body-armor plates. Apparel plants in Arkansas, Alabama, Florida and Puerto Rico struggle to keep up with uniform orders. Once-idle textile mills in South Carolina spin rugged camouflage fabric. Army depots operate 24/7 to repair and rebuild the wreckage of war in time to ship it back with the next troop deployment.
I agree with you on the job losses in Ohio. I recently read the Michigan and Ohio are the hardest hit when it came to loosing high paying manufacturing jobs. In the city of Detroit, there are 56,000 people without a job.
Linda,
You seem to think that 248,000 jobs is going to be the spring board for the sagging economy. It's not! If you take the 248,000 jobs and divide them into 50 states, that equals only 4,960 retrieved jobs per state. Here in Michigan, we have 83 counties. Divide the 4,960 jobs into the 83 counties and you get a whopping 60 jobs per county.
Let's all cheer for that!
True Americans do not exclude anybody. They recognize that everyone should have the same rights. Bigotry, intolerance and hatred are cancers of the mind.
With summer nearly here, the next big boost will come from seasonal hiring.
How foolish of me to forget the summer employment season. Putt Putt golf will be opening and some lucky teenager will get a minimum wage job there selling tickets. Let's not forget the Diary Queen too. Let's not leave out the migrant farm workers. Picking season in on our doorsteps.
I think that you should consider being Bush's economic adviser.
True Americans do not exclude anybody. They recognize that everyone should have the same rights. Bigotry, intolerance and hatred are cancers of the mind.
posted on June 6, 2004 10:03:54 PM new
"Unemployment was at a 17.2 percent rate among teenagers looking for summer jobs"
Most teenagers are hired by small business or chains. They now prefer to hire Illegals.
Hummers are made in Indiana. They are shipped to Ohio for steel plating. It has been that way for years. However the Hummer 3 will built in Louisiana. There have been no job increases at AM General.
posted on June 6, 2004 10:30:50 PM new
You should read Kiara's aarticle about defense related employment.
In the first three months of this year, defense work accounted for nearly 16 percent of the nation's economic growth, according to the Commerce Department. Military spending leaped 15.1 percent to an annualized rate of $537.4 billion, up from $463.3 billion in the comparable period of 2003, when Bush declared major combat operations in Iraq over.
"That's pretty good, considering it's only 3 to 4 percent of the economy," said Joseph Liro, an economist at the New Jersey-based research firm Stone & McCarthy. "For one quarter, that's a pretty big number."
George Allen, from left, Steve Steinbeck and Karen Smallwood prepare a Humvee to be painted at the O'Gara Hess & Eisenhardt plant in Fairfield, Ohio. The plant turned out 600 vehicles in all of 2002 but has already made 890 this year. (Mary Annette Pember For The Washington Post)
posted on June 6, 2004 10:36:02 PM new
Linda, you obviously know very little about me or my life or my worries so don't make assumptions otherwise you sound like a fool. Read the article and you will realize that much of the job growth is due to the war. Everytime I post something that shakes your little world you turn the focus on Canada because you can't debate. This discussion was not about Canada or me.
Yes Fred, I looked it up and I now understand that the Humvee frame is made in Indiana. They were making 30 a day and have upped it to 32 and the 600 employees are working overtime to keep up.
posted on June 6, 2004 10:52:35 PM new War May Require More Money Soon
By Jonathan Weisman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, April 21, 2004; Page A01
Intense combat in Iraq is chewing up military hardware and consuming money at an unexpectedly rapid rate -- depleting military coffers, straining defense contractors and putting pressure on Bush administration officials to seek a major boost in war funding long before they had hoped.
Since Congress approved an $87 billion defense request last year, the administration has steadfastly maintained that military forces in Iraq will be sufficiently funded until early next year. President Bush's budget request for the fiscal year that begins Oct. 1 included no money for Iraqi operations, and his budget director, Joshua B. Bolten, said no request would come until January at the earliest.
But military officials, defense contractors and members of Congress say that worsening U.S. fortunes in Iraq have dramatically changed the equation and more money will be needed soon. This comes as lawmakers, returning from their spring break, voice unease about the mounting violence and what they say is the lack of a clearly enunciated strategy for victory.
The military already has identified unmet funding needs, including initiatives aimed at providing equipment and weapons for troops in Iraq. The Army has publicly identified nearly $6 billion in funding requests that did not make Bush's $402 billion defense budget for 2005, including $132 million for bolt-on vehicle armor; $879 million for combat helmets, silk-weight underwear, boots and other clothing; $21.5 million for M249 squad automatic weapons; and $27 million for ammunition magazines, night sights and ammo packs. Also unfunded: $956 million for repairing desert-damaged equipment and $102 million to replace equipment lost in combat.
The Marine Corps' unfunded budget requests include $40 million for body armor, lightweight helmets and other equipment for "Marines engaged in the global war on terrorism," Marine Corps documents state. The Marines are also seeking 1,800 squad automatic weapons and 5,400 M4 carbine rifles.
Rep. Curt Weldon (R-Pa.), vice chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, charged that the president is playing political games by postponing further funding requests until after the election, to try to avoid reopening debate on the war's cost and future.
Weldon described the administration's current defense budget request as "outrageous" and "immoral" and said that at least $10 billion is needed for Iraqi operations over the next five months.
"There needs to be a supplemental, whether it's a presidential election year or not," he said. "The support of our troops has to be the number one priority of this country. . . . Somebody's got to get serious about this."
Rep. Chet Edwards (D-Tex.), who returned from Iraq on March 23, said senior Army officers and contractors told him "serious problems" will surface this summer if Congress does not approve more spending by June. Without the additional funding, food concession contracts will have to be renegotiated and operations and training bases in the United States will have to be cannibalized to finance operations in Iraq.
"If one American soldier in Iraq loses his life because Congress and the administration were afraid of the political consequences of another supplemental appropriations bill, shame on everyone who should be a part of that process," Edwards said.
Some lawmakers said that if the administration stands firm against supplemental military spending this year, Congress may act on its own this summer to increase spending. But without Bush's lead, lawmakers say, it will be difficult.
Pressed on the funding issue yesterday at a Senate hearing, Deputy Defense Secretary Paul D. Wolfowitz conceded that higher-than-expected troop levels are draining some military accounts, but he said other accounts remain in surplus and can be tapped.
Gen. Richard B. Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, was more equivocal: "We know that we have additional costs that we have to find funding sources for," he said. "We thought before that the services were identifying shortfalls that we could bridge. . . . I think we just have to assure ourselves that's still true."
Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said at a briefing that the Pentagon has a plan to boost troop levels beyond the 135,000 already in Iraq if commanders so request.
The strains are beginning to show. Last month, all four military services began spending money halfway through the fiscal year that they were not supposed to touch until July, a senior GOP Armed Services Committee aide said. The military has asked Congress eight times in the past few months for permission to shift $619 million to urgent combat needs from less-pressing programs, Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.) said.
Scrambling to fill its needs, the Pentagon last week diverted 120 armored Humvees purchased by the Israel Defense Forces to Iraq. Yesterday, the Army announced a $110 million contract for still more armored Humvees.
But even that will not be enough, said Robert F. Mecredy, president of the defense group at Armor Holdings. As the two-front uprising in Iraq began taking its toll last month, the company's O'Gara-Hess & Eisenhardt Armoring Co. subsidiary cranked up its Ohio defense plant, turning out 214 heavily armored Humvees in March, revving up for 220 this month, even building its own bulletproof-glass operation to augment faltering suppliers.
But by September, Mecredy said, O'Gara's funding from the Army will be running out. Mecredy arrived in Washington yesterday for a week of intensive congressional lobbying. To keep Humvee production at the Army's requested rate, he said, Armor Holdings will need $354 million more by Oct. 1, the beginning of fiscal 2005.
The top officers of Army Materiel Command began a major resupply review at Fort McCoy, Wis., yesterday to determine how to maintain operations in Iraq under increasingly strained circumstances, said Gary Motsek, the command's deputy director for support operations. The Army has worked through a serious supply problem with body armor, he said. And by next month, the command believes, a lingering short-supply problem with the tanklike treads of Bradley Fighting Vehicles will have been resolved.
But that is putting a further strain on the budget. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. is now churning out 50,000 steel "shoes" for Bradley treads a month, and will be up to 70,000 by June, Motsek said.
Other problems are being worked through. The backlog of rear rotor blades for Chinook transport helicopters has become serious, he said, with 24 Chinooks now grounded in Iraq. Pre-positioned military stockpiles in Kuwait are critically short.
"An alternative source of funding has to be identified," Motsek said. "We're going to have to be innovative, no doubt about it."
Bush administration officials have not wavered in their contention that money is actually plentiful. Dov S. Zakheim, who left his post as Pentagon comptroller last week, told reporters earlier this month that there may be a temporary spike in spending in the coming months but that costs would then steadily decline. By borrowing from military personnel, operations and maintenance accounts for the final half of 2005, the Pentagon may be able to bridge the gap, said Rep. John M. Spratt Jr. (S.C.), the ranking Democrat on the House Budget Committee. But budget chicanery of that magnitude would be unprecedented, he added.
"Whether they can do that if the requirement is $50 [billion] or $60 billion remains to be seen," Spratt said. "It's no way to run a budget."
posted on June 6, 2004 11:42:12 PM new
Linda, war has always fueled the economy. I don't think that anyone is upset about people going back to work but with Bush pushing for more free trade and outsourcing where do you think most jobs will be coming from if it wasn't for the war? I have a feeling that this gives you one more reason to believe in war mongering. Helen posted some very eye-opening reading on the cost of the war and who do you think is going to have to pay for this?
Hey! I can always tell when I hit a nerve with you because you start to pepper your posts with comments about Canada and faces. So much so that now you can hardly post anymore without a in there. It kinda makes you look like you're going over the edge.
posted on June 6, 2004 11:52:46 PM new
I understand completely, kiara. To you job growth is somehow not good. This is terrible news.
Well...it IS to me and to my country. It doesn't matter to me who's in office....I want my economy to continue to improve....and it is. I want my countrymen/women to get jobs if they want them.....and they are beginning to in very good numbers.
Be negative if you wish....you won't make me see job creation as a bad thing for my country.
posted on June 7, 2004 12:59:53 AM newFor awhile I've suspected that any new job growth would be war related so I just did a search and found this and I think I'm right in my thinking.
Nope......
-------
Hiring last month was widespread, with the biggest gains in construction, health care, professional and business services and hotels and restaurants.
"What is really key is that every major sector had improvements," said John Silvia, chief economist for Wachovia Securities. "That suggests these gains are sustainable."
The struggling manufacturing sector also is reawakening, adding 32,000 new jobs last month. Based on revised figures, it was the fourth straight month of payroll increases after almost three years of continuous losses.
Despite the nine-month hiring spree, more than 1.2 million jobs have been lost since Bush took office in January 2001. The losses, however, are shrinking.
"I'm pleased to see strong job growth, and that's what I am concerned about," Labor Secretary Elaine Chao said in an interview. "Every month of strong job growth is good news to me and it's good news for America."
The Bush administration was criticized widely for an overly optimistic forecast that 2.6 million jobs would be created this year. Economists now say the chugging economy could approach that mark.
David Wyss, chief economist at Standard & Poor's in New York, said he expects continued payroll increases of about 200,000 for several months.
"The jobs market is back," said David Wyss, chief economist at Standard & Poor's in New York.
Last month, construction employment rose by 32,000 in May, with 91,000 new jobs added since January. In the services sector, professional and business services added 64,000 jobs, fueled by hiring increases in temporary employment firms. Hiring at such firms has grown by 14 percent since April 2003.
Hotels and restaurants added 33,000 jobs over the month, and financial services boosted payrolls by 15,000.
Some industries lost jobs, including telecommunications, which shed 5,000 positions last month.
Also, there were fewer government jobs last month as employment in that sector fell by 27,000.
Your polls mean nothing. Most of the polls I have looked at state 600 people were polled. Last I checked there are far more people registered to vote in Ohio than 600. That is hardly a number I'm worried about. Again, cut and paste, cut and paste. . . .
Since 2000, Ohio has lost 225,000 jobs and seen its unemployment rate rise from 3.9 percent to 5.8 percent. Taxes also have jumped, with The Tax Foundation, a conservative research group in Washington, ranking it third in the nation in its tax burden on residents, up from 14th in 1999. "There is a growing sense in Ohio that the state is going in the wrong direction, and that's bad news for Bush," said Leo Jennings, a Democratic consultant in Cleveland.
"In the northeast, jobs are a huge issue, but in the southwest it's more a question of the standard of living and inflation," he said.
Bill Clinton won Ohio in 1992 and 1996 to help win the White House, and local Democrats say the prospect that Ohio could play a key role in ending Bush's presidency has excited the party's base.
"The last time there was this level of political activity among Democrats was in 1992, and that helped Clinton win," Jennings said. "I think we're in the same place now."
posted on June 7, 2004 06:14:02 AM new
Today, the Ohio Association of Foodbanks is reporting a 44 percent increase in people seeking food --State's economy leads to longer food lines
"We're seeing people who never thought they would be in this situation," Chase told the newspaper for a week-long series on poverty that began on Sunday. "Half of them are working people who have 10 to 15 to 20 years of work experience but don't have jobs."
Nationwide, the number of people seeking emergency food from Catholic Charities USA and its partners has jumped about 20 percent annually in recent years.
posted on June 7, 2004 07:11:35 AM new
I, and several million other people, agree that G. da Bush was the cause of all those lost jobs.
And jobs that pay less than a living wage will not count with me no matter what the statistics say. The only economy that's getting better is that of the richest 1%.
Has anyone dared to listen to Al Francken or Big Ed Schultz yet? Tune 'em in, call 'em up with your statistics and see what they have to say....they have more time and resources than I do and have a wealth of facts. And they're much more polite than conservative talk show hosts.
Again, I don't wish to change anyone's mind (no one has so far) but just as I sit and listen to Republican and conservative viewpoints it would be nice if they did the same.
Peace...after all, like Red Green says, "we're all in this together"
posted on June 7, 2004 07:18:35 AM newTo you job growth is somehow not good. This is terrible news.
Once again you're wrong, Linda. A good percentage of my business is with the US so the economy affects me greatly and it also affects Canada's. Many of these jobs being created are low pay with no benefits and the seasonal jobs are there each year at this time. Most of those are low pay too for crappy work. Some people have to work 2 or 3 part-time jobs a day trying to survive.
I know you've mentioned that you personally don't know of any job losses but perhaps you should peek out of your insulated little box and take time to read what Cheryl and Helen have to say and then look at the big picture and learn a bit more about the true situation.
posted on June 7, 2004 08:18:52 AM new
Linda: A job is a job. This makes THREE months in a row with GREAT job growth.....
Tell that to the unemployed steel or manufacturing worker that used to be making $60K. I am sure he would be greatful to have a job or two that is making $7.50 an hour.
Linda if you think the economy is so great why don't you give up your job and work at McDonald's for $7.50 an hour.
Re-defeat Bush
------------------------------
In the words from Cher:
We’re gonna love one another ’til morning comes
Sweet salvation for what we’ve done
Give up resisting one by one one by one
posted on June 7, 2004 08:20:41 AM new
Linda:
Ohio -
June 2, 2004--In Ohio, the latest Rasmussen Reports survey finds President George W. Bush with 46% of the vote to 44% for Senator John F. Kerry.
Funny how you always seem to leave out the margin of error in these postings. The typical margin or error is around 2 or 3 points so this race is still to close to call, just like in most of the poll results.
Re-defeat Bush
------------------------------
In the words from Cher:
We’re gonna love one another ’til morning comes
Sweet salvation for what we’ve done
Give up resisting one by one one by one
posted on June 7, 2004 08:49:15 AM newNoting our rate is 5.6 - compared to Canada's 7.3.......is just mentioning a FACT.
That 5.6 figure doesn't include all the people whose unemployment benefits ran out and still have no job. The actual rate could be twice that figure.
I read a Sunday Republican newspaper from Columbus Ohio that had a lead article about the unemployment in Ohio and the increased poverty and dependence on free food pantries. It's a disgrace.
posted on June 7, 2004 09:05:47 AM new
Linda claims to think that we are gleeful to see soldiers blown up and joyful to see jobs lost and happy to see people lined up at soup kitchens because they can't afford to eat. Who can explain a thought process like that? It's especially strange because the very topics that she accuses us of being happy about bothers her very little. She dismisses deaths of soldiers in a needless battle and doesn't want them mentioned. Here, she focuses on a relatively few jobs created while ignoring the millions of people unemployed or the widening gap between rich and poor.
She dances a happy jig over 248,000 new jobs while more than 30 million Americans live below the official poverty line.
posted on June 7, 2004 09:25:39 AM new
No kidding, Helen. And nowhere have you ever seen me jumping from topic to topic praising Canada or comparing it to the US. In fact whenever she brings up Canada I'm the first to say that things aren't perfect there and that I'm aware of it.
What is her concern about Canada? I do business with the US and am there several times a week and since I have friends and relatives in the US it's a lot more likely that I may move there than she will ever move to Canada so of course I'm concerned about it. Almost everything that happens there affects me in some way or other.
It's like rat conditioning. Each time I make any comment that rattles her box, which is at the foot of her Bush throne, her panties bunch and it tweaks a Canada response from her so it makes her even more transparent. Her ignorance about her own country and her loathing and disdain for any other country shows so clearly.
