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More bad news on the economy...

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Posted by: MonsterMark

More bad news on Jobs and the Economy
From the USA Today

Employers created a surprising 274,000 jobs in April and added more workers in each of the two preceding months than first thought, the Labor Department said Friday in a report that may ease fears about economic growth.
The April jobs total far outstripped economists' expectations for 170,000 new jobs. Further underlining the surge, the government said 93,000 more jobs were created in February and March than it previously reported — 146,000 in March instead of 110,000 and a whopping 300,000 in February instead of 243,000.

3,000,000 new jobs in the last 16 months alone.

Posted by: 97silverlsc

Not very impressive, considering most economists say that a little over 300k jobs need to be created every month just to break even with people entering the job market.

Posted by: 97silverlsc

New Poll Finds Public Still Not Buying Bush Social Security Plan

By The Associated Press

Published: May 06, 2005 12:30 PM ET

NEW YORK President Bush is pushing for dramatic changes to the nation's policy on Social Security at a time the public is grouchy about the nation's direction, skeptical about his proposed solutions and sharply divided along partisan lines, an AP-Ipsos poll found.

Six in 10 disapprove of the president's handling of Social Security after Bush spent the last two months campaigning across the nation for the changes.

A week ago, the president tried to build some momentum for his proposal by asking future middle- and higher-income retirees to accept smaller benefit checks than they're currently slated to receive as part of a package to keep the system solvent.

The poll found, however, that 56 percent of respondents are not willing to give up some promised benefits, while 40 percent say they are. Majorities of Democrats, Republicans and independents are opposed to that proposal.

The AP-Ipsos poll of 1,000 adults was taken May 2-4. It has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.

The president is trying to sell these dramatic changes at a time of public anxiety about the nation's direction. Almost six in 10, or 59 percent, said the country is headed down the wrong track.

Bush's job approval is at 47 percent with 51 percent disapproving, and his approval on areas like handling Iraq, the economy and assorted domestic issues is in the low 40s.

People are about evenly divided on his handling of foreign policy and terrorism.

"The president's personal style does not suggest they're going to blink because they're hovering around 50 percent job approval," said Bill McInturff, a Republican pollster. "He and his administration appear to feel very comfortable operating at roughly 50 percent approval."

Nine of 10 Republicans approve of Bush's performance, while almost as many Democrats disapprove. Independents were divided.

"On foreign policy, I'm behind him a hundred percent," said Geoffrey Perry, a technician in a power plant who lives in Richmond, Texas. The Republican said Bush's Social Security proposals would be a step in the right direction.

But ask a Democrat like Carol Bambery of St. Paul, Minn., why she disapproves of the president's performance and get an equally strong reaction.

"I probably disapprove across the board," she said. "You could almost name anything - the tax cuts, lack of support for health care coverage, education programs. On Social Security, I don't think what Bush is proposing is feasible. It will just put us in a bigger debt."

Celinda Lake, a Democratic pollster, said persuading the middle class to give up any promised benefits is a hard sell.

"The middle class feels like it's barely holding on," she said. "And Social Security is perceived to be the original middle-class support program."

Those feelings about Social Security can be just as deep and personal among those who support Bush's proposals.

"Social Security raised me from a little boy," said Christopher Haskin, a Republican from Elmdale, Kan., whose father died when he was very young. "If it wouldn't have been for Social Security, we never would have made it."

Posted by: MonsterMark

Quote:

Originally Posted by 97silverlsc

Not very impressive, considering most economists say that a little over 300k jobs need to be created every month just to break even with people entering the job market.

You are correct in that the US population is growing about 3,200,000 people/yr. currently. Despite the Clinton recession and 9/11, I think we got back on our feet pretty damn well. Credit HAS to go to Bushy, right?

These numbers are from 1990 to 2000.

Posted by: barry2952

U.S. consumer moods sour in early May

By Pedro Nicolaci da Costa

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. consumers felt less upbeat in early May as persistently high gasoline prices and worries about the job market took their toll on confidence, a report said on Friday.

The University of Michigan said its measure of consumer sentiment slipped to 85.3 so far this month from 87.7 in April, according to market sources who saw the subscription-only report.

Wall Street analysts had been predicting a slight gain to 88.0, partly because prices at the gasoline pump have come off their highs so far in May. The latest figures also revealed improvements in the job market over the past three months, which economists thought might have boosted confidence.

But that was apparently not enough to soothe consumers concerns about the future, with the survey's expectations component falling to 73.7 from 77.0. Ratings of current conditions also eased to 103.3 from 104.4.

"The higher expectations for the Michigan survey were based on the better numbers on the data front," said John Shin, economist at Lehman Brothers. "But more generally, the confidence numbers still reflect the elevated state of gas prices, which, while coming off, are still at uncomfortably higher levels."

Consumer spending accounts for two-thirds of overall U.S. economic activity, and a deterioration in confidence is seen as a possible precursor to softer growth.

However, the correlation between sentiment and spending has weakened in recent years. In April, for instance, retail sales jumped 1.4 percent despite sliding confidence.

That increase in consumer activity, combined with an unforeseen narrowing of the March trade deficit, helped assuage fears among economic analysts that economic growth might be skidding off track and hitting a soft patch.

It also suggested the Federal Reserve has plenty of room to keep raising interest rates, since it now looked like gross domestic product might perform a little better than expected in the second quarter, growing somewhere between 3-4 percent.

Financial markets had a very subdued reaction to the data, but the weakness was enough to leave some with nagging doubts about the economic outlook.

"We're not getting much extra traction," Steve Ricchiuto, chief U.S. economist at ABN Amro. "Labor markets are a bit stagnant based on the weekly indicators and chain store sales are soft."

05/13/05 10:24

Posted by: Pepsi2185

Best buy must have opened a few more stores. I heard they hired another manager at mcdonalds as well. Bah!!!! Rippin out tuplips and planting dandylions. The job market sucks!