BlackPerspective.net

April 2009 National Unemployment Numbers & Analysis

April 8th, 2009

If you’re looking for the unemployment report released on May 8, 2009, go here.

The following is a press release from the Bureau of Labor statistics: (analysis is below)

Rleased Friday, April 3, 2009.

THE EMPLOYMENT SITUATION: MARCH 2009

Nonfarm payroll employment continued to decline sharply in March (-663,000), and the unemployment
rate rose from 8.1 to 8.5 percent, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor
reported today. Since the recession began in December 2007, 5.1 million jobs have been lost, with almost
two-thirds (3.3 million) of the decrease occurring in the last 5 months. In March, job losses were
large and widespread across the major industry sectors.

Unemployment (Household Survey Data)
In March, the number of unemployed persons increased by 694,000 to 13.2 million, and the unemployment
rate rose to 8.5 percent. Over the past 12 months, the number of unemployed persons has
grown by about 5.3 million, and the unemployment rate has risen by 3.4 percentage points. Half of the
increase in both the number of unemployed and the unemployment rate occurred in the last 4 months.
(See table A-1.)

The unemployment rates continued to trend upward in March for adult men (8.8 percent), adult
women (7.0 percent), whites (7.9 percent), and Hispanics (11.4 percent). The jobless rates for blacks
(13.3 percent) and teenagers (21.7 percent) were little changed over the month. The unemployment rate
for Asians was 6.4 percent in March, not seasonally adjusted, up from 3.6 percent a year earlier. (See
tables A-1, A-2, and A-3.)

You can see the full 30 page report with charts and graphs here

Analysis:

Rising U.S. unemployment to hurt food sales: analyst
By Lisa Baertlein
Reuters
Tuesday, April 7, 2009; 1:25 PM

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Grocery sales “could drop further and remain negative longer than they did during the last downturn” due to the severity and depth of the current economic downturn, Pali Research said on Tuesday.
[Source]

New York Times Editorial
Unemployment Rising
Published: April 4, 2009

For much of last week, it was possible to think that the economy was looking up. Various indicators, though weak, were not as bad as expected. The disappointing results from the Group of 20 meeting in London were offset in part by the leaders’ display of seriousness and, in particular, President Obama’s debut on the world stage.

On Friday, reality bit back with the news that the unemployment rate spiked in March, to 8.5 percent, a 25-year high.
[Source]

posted in News & Events, Socio-Economic | | | View blog reactions |

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  Yobachi Boswell is creator and publisher of BlackPerspecitve.net. I’m a writer, activist and political watcher based in Nashville, Tennessee. I’ve also been know to do some spoken word and MCing in my day.
  
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