US job losses at new high, press Congress to act

13 November 2008 18:37  [Source: ICIS news]

WASHINGTON (ICIS news)--US job losses exceeded 500,000 last week, the Labor Department said on Thursday, and Democrat leaders in Congress called for immediate action to stimulate the economy and stem the tide of unemployment.

The number of jobless claims has not exceeded 500,000 in one week since the recession that followed the September 2001 terrorist attacks on the US.

The department said that 516,000 Americans filed for unemployment insurance benefits in the week ended 8 November, on a seasonally adjusted basis, an increase of 32,000 or 6.6% from the 484,000 jobless claims filed in the prior week.

The US unemployment rate was at 6.5% in October, and job losses recorded since the end of last month appear likely to push the unemployment figure closer to 7% when data for November are issued in early December.

The department noted that US employment has fallen by 1.2m in the first ten months of 2008 - and that figure does not include the job reductions recorded in the first week of this month.  With those recent numbers included, job losses are likely to have exceeded 1.7m since the beginning of this year.

The total US workforce includes some 154m employees.

“Today’s report from the Labor Department confirms that this recession is threatening the livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of Americans,” said Representative Steny Hoyer (Democrat-Maryland), the House majority leader.

“It is essential that Washington take quick action to get Americans back to work,” Hoyer said.

Congress is expected to consider a new economic stimulus measure when it reconvenes next week, a move that President-elect Barack Obama has said he supports. 

Obama also has said that even if Congress does pass a stimulus bill this month, an additional economic revitalisation measure will likely be needed shortly after he takes office as the 44th US president on 20 January.

Hoyer said that Congress must act now.  “Americans losing their jobs every day cannot wait for the next administration to take action,” he said.

A new stimulus bill would likely focus on emergency infrastructure projects, extended unemployment insurance and loans for hard-pressed US automakers.

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By: Joe Kamalick
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