Following reports of a staggering loss in the U.S. of 524,000 jobs in December and the highest yearly job losses since 1945, Stockhouse members gave their thoughts on the news on several Bullboards Friday.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor said Friday that Nonfarm payroll employment declined sharply in December, with the economy shedding 524,000 jobs last month.
For all of 2008, the U.S. economy lost a net total of 2.6 million jobs. That was the most since 1945, when nearly 2.8 million jobs were lost, notes the Canadian Press.
In December, the number of unemployed persons increased by 632,000 to 11.1 million and the unemployment rate rose to 7.2 percent, the highest in 16 years, says MarketWatch.
Job losses were widespread across most major industry sectors last month, including manufacturing, which lost 149,000 positions, construction which fell by 101,000 and retail, down 67,000.
“Since the start of the recession in December 2007, the number of unemployed persons has grown by 3.6 million, and the unemployment rate has risen by 2.3 percentage points,” says the Department of Labor.
October and November’s losses were also greater than previously thought. The change in total nonfarm employment for October was revised from a loss of 320,000 jobs to a loss of 423,000, while November’s figures were also revised to a loss of 584,000 jobs down from 533,000 jobs.
Last month, the U.S. Department of Labor said average hourly earnings rose by five cents, or 0.3%, following gains of eight cents in November and six cents in October.
On the Google (NASDAQ: GOOG, Stock Forum) Bullboard, seldomseen1 commented: “this morning,jobs look horrible.unemployment up to 7.2%.
On the Royal Bank of Canada (TSX: T.RY, Stock Forum) Bullboard, V4VENDETTA said: “Economy sheds the most jobs since 1945; Jobless rate rises to 7.2 per cent in December ! This is unfortunately only the beginning... And Banks Will not sustain the earnings![sic]”
22andintrusting also noted: “Well it's good to see average earnings growth for the many with jobs, if wages can grow at 3.7% every year in the USA than wages would be 50% higher in less than 10 years. When real estate prices bottom in the USA that will help both the Canadian and US economy greatly in my opinion as consumers will feel more comfortabe spending more thus creating demand for more manufactured goods[sic].”