Job Loss not as Bad as Original Predictions

[Jun 25, 2008.]

 

Since the beginning of 2008, almost every U.S industry has seen drops in payroll, ranging from retail to the auto industry. Hundreds of businesses have been slashing jobs in order to make ends meet, leaving a large number of people without employment. For the fourth straight month in a row, employers have trimmed jobs in the hope of staying afloat in turbulent times, but now things seemed to have improved slightly.

In April, the decline in payroll was less severe than what analysts and economic evaluators have predicted. Indeed, the rate of unemployment has dipped to 5%, far below expectations. In terms of concrete numbers, there was a net loss of roughly 20k jobs in April, according to a report by the Labor Department. In contrast to that value, March showed a loss of over 80k jobs, and economists had predicted that April would see a loss of at least 75k jobs.

Comparing percentages, the rate of unemployment was estimated to rise to 5.2% in April, when in reality it went down to 5%, signifying a change in events that come as a relief to many people.

David Wyss, chief economist of Standard & Poors, believes that while the news isn't particularly good, it's not nearly as bad as what everyone thought would originally happen. He believes that the results are consistent with the view that the recession America is facing will be a mild one that just so happens to last slightly longer than normal, leading Americans to have to tough it out for an extended period of time.

Still, many people show optimism that the situation is not as bad as it could of been, and agree that while a loss of employment is bad, a value of 95% employment for the nation as a whole is actually rather good in itself, especially when compared to the credit crunch and rising gas prices.