Employment woes show economy’s pain not over

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U.S. jobless rate now just shy of 10 percent, according to Department of Labor.Disappointing numbers released Friday by the U.S. Department of Labor show the country shed more jobs in the last month, pushing the national unemployment rate to 9.8 percent. The country lost 263,000 jobs in September.

The ongoing layoffs show a need for continued support of the unemployed, said William Rodgers III, professor and chief economist with the John J. Heldrich Center for Workforce Development at Rutgers University, in New Brunswick. The nation was bleeding as many as 700,000 jobs per month at the beginning of the year.

“There have been indicators that suggest all was not well in the month of September,” Rodgers said.

The private sector lost 210,000 jobs, he said, putting the number in line with forecasts. Another 53,000 jobs were eliminated by governments across the country.

Rodgers said the report points to at least three actions that should be taken to buttress the economy. “We should not be ending any kind of stimulus right now,” Rodgers said. “The Federal Reserve should continue to provide lower interest [rates] and unfreeze capital markets. Congress needs to seal the deal on extending unemployment insurance benefits.”

One segment of the report offered some small bits of encouragement, he said, as “the temporary employment services sector contracted only by 2,000 jobs” in September. In prior months, the temporary employment sector shed 3,000 to as much as 40,000 jobs per month, he added.

E-mail João-Pierre Ruth at [email protected]

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