U.S. Lost 33,000 Jobs in September; Unemployment Rate Dips
to 4.2%
The
hurricanes Harvey and Irma caused the loss of 33,000 jobs in September, the
first monthly decline since 2010, but economists are saying that the market is
still doing well. But the good news is
that the unemployment rate has dropped to 4.2% and that wages are rising by
2.9%. Economists are assuming that the
hurricanes messed with unemployment and that numbers will stabilize soon, but
for recovering businesses especially, hiring became unimportant, but now things
are back to normal. Manufacturing jobs
that got flooded shut down operations around Houston, which probably gave a
large portion to the 33,000. The largest number ever in the United States of
people not working due to bad weather came in September with 1.5 million. Stock markets have been doing pretty well,
and even President Trump tweeted that “Stock Market hits an ALL-TIME high! Unemployment lowest in 16 years! Business and
manufacturing enthusiasm at highest level in decades!” Workers haven’t found the proof in their
paychecks yet, the Census Bureau said that in September, median household
incomes were worse than in 2000. Some
companies, such as Target are raising their hourly wage by .5%, trying to reach
potential employees that aren’t common such as stay-at-home moms, retirees, and
disabled people. The wages are expected
to rise for the holiday season, and have benefits for employees who stay after
the holiday season is over. Radial, the
second Amazon, is hiring 27,000 people to work in their warehouses because
e-commerce is thriving while real stores are declining. A Denver company is advertising moving to
Denver in San Francisco, and offering large benefits to employees who recommend
friends to the company. But some people
are missing stability, such as lower paid workers. The labor force participation has peaked at
63% in September, the gain of workers is estimated to be 170,000. Recovery from Harvey, Irma, and Maria has
been hard, but it has also created jobs for Americans, but companies who have
lost lots of money will have to make changes for the possible millions that
they lost.
The article
was written by Patricia Cohen on October 6, 2017 for the New York Times. The article was written for people interested
in the economy and how the effects of the hurricanes, even after a month, are
still being felt by workers. The article
was written to inform people about employment rates, which seem to be full of
contradictions. It tries to explain all
of the numbers and why they are what they are.
The article is trying to convey that participation in the labor force
went down because the storm shut factories down, but that jobs are coming back
and unemployment rates are really low for the situation. According to economists, full employment is
about 5% unemployed, so the United States is technically at full employment,
but the number of people not working is actually about 37%. The situation that the hurricanes left us in
can be compared to when Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans and jobs were lost,
but they came back in the months after the hurricane.
My question is whether this job growth is a recent trend or the result of older, long-standing fiscal and economic policies, and how long it will be before the economy slips back into a recession.
ReplyDeletePersonally, I think the trends were more recent. The opportunities were opened after the events led to the creation of jobs in an effort to drop unemployment, which may have worked well or only temporarily. The best thing to do is as Brooke said letting the situation stabalize. The good thing is financial aid regarding the natural disasters is being taken care of by the raising of the ceiling for debt by the US government, however I do think as you said the economy will drop back into recession sooner or later. But hey, if it doesn’t, whoope for America right?
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