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“JOBS POST BIGGEST DROP IN 5 YEARS” mentioning the U.S. Dept of Labor was published in the House of Representatives section on pages H1434 on March 10, 2008.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
JOBS POST BIGGEST DROP
IN 5 YEARS
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the gentlewoman from Ohio (Ms. Kaptur) is recognized for 5 minutes.
Ms. KAPTUR. Madam Speaker, since 2000, our Nation has lost over 3,400,000 more manufacturing jobs. In fact, the job creation record of the Bush administration is the worst since the Hoover administration.
The figures released by the U.S. Department of Labor last week posted the largest job loss in 5 years. The report was much weaker than expected, and, strangely, the unemployment rate declined because there were fewer people in the workforce. CNN's Moneyline reported that employers made their deepest cuts in staffing in almost 5 years in February. There was a net loss of 63,000 more jobs, which is the biggest decline since March 2003, and weaker than the revised 22,000 job loss reported for January. The job loss was widespread, reaching beyond the battered construction industry, which lost 39,000 jobs, and manufacturing, where job losses hit 52,000.
Retailers cut 34,000 jobs while business and professional service cut 20,000 jobs. Temporary staffing firms cut nearly 28,000 jobs off their payrolls, another warning sign of employers pulling back, and hotels cut about 4,000 jobs, a sign that discretionary consumer spending could be on the wane. Overall, the private sector cut over 101,000 jobs according to the CNN Moneyline report.
The widening recession in almost every sector, not just the goods-
producing sector, is extraordinarily important. I wish to place those numbers in the Record and say, Madam Speaker, America needs to create more real wealth here at home and stop borrowing prosperity and piling on more debt. We need to create jobs leading to energy independence in this country. We need to do more than just sort of flash our hand at that and be serious about it.
We need new transportation systems in our country. We need new bridges in the ground. We need people to be employed, those who now are idle labor, in helping to build back our economy from coast to coast.
A real stimulus package would lead our Nation to invest here at home, not just to borrow more from abroad. These numbers are serious omens. They're warning signs to those who have responsibility here in Washington to do more than manipulate interest rates. They would engage this Congress in an effort to build forward again in those sectors that would leave future generations real wealth, the kind of wealth that our ancestors left us: libraries, schools, highways, bridges, new energy systems, clean water systems, new transportation systems, new high-
speed rail, new air control towers; the kind of wealth that can't be outsourced that belongs to the American people for generations to come.
Madam Speaker, I place in the Record the figures from the CNN Moneyline report about what happened with the biggest job loss in 5 years in this past quarter.
Jobs Post Biggest Drop in 5 Years
(By Chris Isidore)
New York.--Employers made their deepest cut in staffing in almost five years in February, according to a closely watched government report Friday that showed the labor market far weaker than expected, fueling already building recession fears.
There was a net loss of 63,000 jobs, according to the Labor Department, which is the biggest decline since March 2003 and weaker than the revised 22,000 job loss reported for January. Economists surveyed by Briefing.com had forecast a gain of 25,000 jobs in the most recent reading.
The job loss was widespread, reaching beyond the battered construction sector, which lost 39,000 and manufacturing, where job losses hit 52,000. Retailers cut 34,000 jobs, while business and professional services cut 20,000 jobs.
Temporary staffing firms cut nearly 28,000 jobs off their payrolls, another warning sign of employers pulling back, and hotels cut about 4,000 jobs, a sign that discretionary consumer spending could be on the wane.
Overall the private sector cut 101,000 jobs, with only a gain in government employment limiting losses.
Despite the job loss, the unemployment improved to 4.8% from the 4.9% reading in January. Economists had forecast the unemployment rate would rise to 5%. The rate fell because of a big jump in the number of people that the government counted as no longer in the labor force.
The labor market has weakened significantly in recent months, prompting fears of recession along with a $170 billion economic stimulus package and a series of interest rate cuts from the Federal Reserve.
The Fed is next set to meet March 18 to consider what to do with interest rates. Friday's report would seem to suggest more rate cuts are on the way, despite the improved unemployment rate.
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