Thursday, October 1, 2009

New job loss numbers continues the bad news for the economy

The economy may be on the mend for the economists, but out here in the real world, not so much. The job loss continues, the job fairs continues to bring out folks in the thousands, many 2-year colleges are seeing a boom of older students out of jobs, unemployment continues to extend, and the phrase, "there are no jobs out there" is becoming common.

First-time claims for jobless benefits rose more than expected last week in the U.S., a sign employers are reluctant to hire and the job market remains weak.

The Labor Department says initial claims for unemployment insurance rose to a seasonally adjusted 551,000 from 534,000 in the previous week. Wall Street economists expected an increase of 5,000, according to a survey by Thomson Reuters.

Ohio reported one of the largest drops in claims. read more here...

And the auto industry went back into the dumps since the closing of the Cash for Clunkers program.
Major automakers reported September sales declines on Thursday, revealing a tough hangover from this summer's buying spree driven by big discounts to consumers.

General Motors Co. and Chrysler Group LLC posted the biggest slowdowns during the month. Hyundai bucked the trend, reporting a 27 percent rise in sales last month over last year.

"It was a more difficult month than we anticipated," Mark LaNeve, GM's vice president of U.S. sales, told reporters during a conference call."

This is back to reality for the auto industry and for some folks sad to see GM closing down its Saturn line. One of their more reliable auto lines with devoted and repeat customers. Just a shame.

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