Unemployment rate jumps to 5.5 percent in May (biggest monthly rise since 1986)

[Omaha Steve]

Source: Associated Press

By JEANNINE AVERSA

WASHINGTON (AP) - The nation's unemployment rate jumped to 5.5 percent in May - the biggest monthly rise since 1986 - as nervous employers cut 49,000 jobs.

The latest snapshot of business conditions showed a deeply troubled economy, with dwindling job opportunities in a time of continuing hardship in the housing, credit and financial sectors.

"It was ugly," said Richard Yamarone, economist at Argus Research.


Job seekers wait on line stretching around a block to attend the Monster.com and National Career Fairs job fair in New York, Wednesday May 28 , 2008. The nation's unemployment rate jumped to 5.5 percent in May, the biggest monthly rise since 1986, as nervous employers cut 49,000 jobs. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews)

With employers worried about a sharp slowdown and their own prospects, they clamped down on hiring in May, said Friday's report from the Labor Department. The unemployment rate soared from 5 percent in April to 5.5 percent in May. That was the biggest one-month jump in the rate since February 1986. The increase left the jobless rate at its highest since October 2004.


Read more: http://apnews.excite.com/article/20080606/D914KEO00.htm...

[rocktivity]

1. It's horrible out here.

I get e-mails from career builder and monsters, and they feature the same half-dozen jobs. Two jobs I applied to were filled internally. I scored a 96 on a skill tests and they still haven't decided if I even rate an interview. And if business is so slow, I don't understand why recruiters don't have time to return my calls.

I honestly don't think I'm going to survive long enough to vote in November.


rocknation

[boomerbust]

8. OIL

Closed today at 138 and change! OUCH

[ckramer]

10. What's your trade speciality?

and job experience?

[David__77]

2. Yet another reason housing will continue to plummet.

The real estate propagandists are rooting for stabilization, but there's no way that will occur. We're paying for the terrible monetary policy of the early 2000's now.

[Hissyspit]

3. kick

[AlphaCentauri]

4. hey!, why everybody wants to work in an office, there are plenty of meatpacking jobs

Factories Turn to Refugee Workers

CACTUS, Texas -- Eighteen months ago, a federal roundup of hundreds of undocumented Latino workers nearly crippled a giant JBS Swift & Co. meatpacking plant here. Today, the slaughterhouse is on the rebound, thanks to an unexpected influx of refugees from Myanmar.

Since January, the Swift plant has hired more than 200 workers from the Southeast Asian country, also known as Burma. Most of the new legal hands came from a large refugee population that had been resettled in Houston, 12 hours away by car. The typical pay: $12.15 an hour, or more than double the state's minimum wage.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121271241538150613.html...

[Lifetimedem]

6. Water seeks the lowest level

At least these guys are legal.

They were probably using the illegal Mexicans as slaves giving them 7 or 8 $$ a hour

Where is our conscience when we allow companies to work illegals like indentured servants or slaves?

[AlphaCentauri]

7. These legal immigrants may have just being relocated to Texas to replace the Mexican immigrants

I don't see US citizens trying to occupied those jobs but the Feds providing new immigrants for those jobs.

[Lifetimedem]

11. Americans would do the job

ANY job for a FAIR wage. These guys want cheap labor that does not ask questions or look for compensation if they are injured.

Were these jobs advertised ? At what wage?

[OhioChick]

5. K&R

[sarcasmo]

9. Stock up on the canned goods, I feel a bumpier ride a coming.