Another calamitous jobs report and other bleak data suggest further pain ahead for the recession-battered US economy, and may push back a recovery from the worst slump in decades, analysts say.
US employers axed 651,000 jobs in February sending the unemployment rate to a 25-year high of 8.1 percent, according to official data Friday.
The Labor Department also revised upward its estimates for losses for the previous two months -- 655,000 in January from 598,000, and 681,000 in December from 577,000. The figures made December's losses the worst on record since October 1949, officials said.
The unemployment rate rose from 7.6 percent in January to 8.1 in February, the highest since December 1983.
"It's ugly and always seems to be uglier than the previous month," said Robert MacIntosh, chief economist at investment firm Eaton Vance. "It's a deep and dark recession."
MacIntosh said the report suggests a long road to recovery for the recession-ravaged economy.
"I think you have to go into 2010 to actually start to see growth," he said
Source: Yahoo
No comments:
Post a Comment