US unemployment hits 7.2%
News that over 524,000 US jobs were lost in December has pushed the US jobless rate to 7.2% which is a 16 year high. This brings the total number of jobs lost in the US in 2008 to a massive 2.6 million with many analysts expecting further bad news in the short and medium term. It is common knowledge that the US economy is plummeting but there had been hopes of a slowdown in the rate of unemployment over the Christmas and New Year period. However, when you consider this coincided with various car manufacturers cutting back on their workforce, a rise seemed inevitable.
With President-elect Barack Obama only just beginning to find his feet in the White House he is under intense pressure already to introduce a new stimulus package including tax cuts and increased public spending. This all comes at a time when the US Treasury is struggling to raise sufficient funds and taxpayers are becoming ever more confrontational with regards to the amount of taxpayer funding being used to bail out ailing companies and industries.
Many US analysts believe the next three months are vital to the future direction of the US economy and if no stimulus package is agreed and put into practice we could see a further sharp deterioration.
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