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Washington
06 March 2009
The deep downturn in the US economy gathered strength in February as
another 651,000 workers lost their jobs.
It
was the third straight month in which the jobless total rose by more
than 600,000. Since the recession began in December 2007 over four
million Americans have lost their jobs.
The unemployment rate
rose to 8.1 percent in February, the highest rate in over 25 years. Job
losses in February were close to expectations, while the unemployment
rate was above forecasts of 8 percent.
New York Congressman
Maurice Hinchey called attention to the revised 688,000 job lost in
December 2008. "That [revised] December decline is now the worst
we've seen since October 1949," he said.
Hinchey is a member of
the Joint Economic Committee. During a discussion of the grim jobs
data, members divided along party lines on whether the economic
stimulus plan of President Obama will turn the economy around. Elijah
Cummings, a democrat from Baltimore, Maryland, is optimistic.
"This
[economic] situation changes from day-to-day, hour-to-hour, it is
indeed a very difficult moving target," said Cummings. "But we will hit the target."
Kevin
Brady, a Republican congressman from east Texas, is convinced that more
government spending is not the answer. "Unfortunately, the
administration's solution to the problem posed by an excessive debt
burden is to propose an avalanche of more deficit spending and higher
federal debt," he said.
Analysts expect the jobless rate will
continue to rise, perhaps reaching 10 percent of the labor force. The
current recession is already among the deepest of the post-World War
II period.
The stock market, a barometer of business confidence, has
plummeted 20 percent in the six weeks since President Obama took
office. It is down 53 percent from its October 2007 record high, a move
that has erased several trillion dollars from America's household
wealth.
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