- Warren Buffett to CNBC: 'I Haven't Bought American Express In Years'
- CNBC Video: Warren Buffett & Bill Gates - Keeping American Great
- Lightning Round: CVS Caremark, Devon Energy, Tyson Foods and More
- Lightning Round OT: Ford, NewAlliance Bancshares and More
- Why You Should Speculate on Stocks
- Next Week’s Top IPO
- U.S. Stocks Rally for the Second Straight Week
- Cramer: 5 Earnings Reports to Watch Next Week
- Your First Move For Monday November 16th
- Web Extra: Where Will The Next Bull Come From?
MOST SHARED
- U.S. May Wind Up Green With Envy
- Warren Buffett to CNBC: 'I Haven't Bought American Express In Years'
- Japan Third Quarter GDP Jumps; 2010 Growth May Slow
- Analysis: APEC Nations Back Face-Saving Climate Plan
- Disaster Film '2012' Drowns Rivals at Box Office
- Dipping Into Green Investing
- For Investors, The New Green Looks To Be White
- The Cost of Thanksgiving Dinner 2009
- Sustainability Indices Sprouting Up
- Finding Value and Growth In The Green Sector
RSS FEED
Text Size 
The latest overall job loss numbers showed a loss of 524,000 jobs in December and the unemployment rate climbed to 7.2%. This is the highest unemployment rate since January 1993. The November payroll numbers were revised to a loss of 584,000 and the October numbers were revised down to a loss of 423,000. This is the twelfth straight month of losses and a total of 2.6 million jobs for 2008. In the 2001 recession, monthly losses hit a high of 325,000. The 1990-91 recession peaked at 306,000 losses. As you can see from the chart below, numbers peak toward the end of a recession (past recessions are marked by grey bands), making employment a lagging indicator.
 |
Here is a breakdown of where the job losses were as well as which sectors were adding jobs. Worst hit was retail, manufacturing, construction and professional services. Again, health services, education and government added the most jobs.
Total change in non-farm payroll = - 524,000
- Private Sector = - 531,000
- Natural Resources & Mining = - 1,000
- Construction = - 101,000
- Manufacturing = - 149,000
- Durable goods = - 114,000
- Non-durable goods = - 35,000
- Services = - 273,000
- Wholesale Trade = - 30,000
- Retail Trade = - 66,600
- Transportation = - 23,900
- Utilities = - 100
- Information & Media = - 20,000
- Financial Svcs & Real Estate = - 14,000
- Professional & Business Svcs = - 113,000
- Education = + 7,000
- Health Svcs = + 37,500
- Leisure = - 22,000
- Government = +7,000
With the slightly better than expected job losses, the futures initially jumped before coming back to indicate a relatively flat open. In the pre-market, Dupont [DD
Loading...
()
], American Express [AXP
Loading...
()
], Alcoa [AA
Loading...
()
], Bank of America [BAC
Loading...
()
], and General Electric [GE
Loading...
()
] are leading the Dow.
- Where, what, how.
- Warren Buffett and Bill Gates spoke to Columbia students, and Buffett made the students a startling offer.
- For the chief of cable company Comcast, growth has been about making deals – generally very large deals.
- Some companies may start using insurance to shift carbon risk from their balance sheets to maybe... yours?
- The president and founder of Genesis Today wants to improve America’s health, and thinks Wal-Mart can help.
- Switzerland's privacy watchdog is taking legal action to force Google to make changes to its Street View service.
Data is a real-time snapshot *Data is delayed at least 15 minutes