BBC.co.uk has just reported that the unemployment rate of the United States has risen from 5% to 5.5%. Considering the USA is the world’s biggest economy, news such as this is a shocker in all areas. Unemployment in the end will give way to lower purchasing power, which later feeds into industry stalls… hard-core recession.
The rise by .5% happened in just this May 2008. Analysts have recorded it as the fastest in two decades.
The US Labor Department said the economy lost 49,000 non-farm jobs.
It follows a 28,000 decline in April, and will fuel fears the US economy is sliding towards recession, analysts said.
The worry is that a weak labour market will see consumers rein in their spending, hurting corporate profits.
The poor data rattled the stock market, with the blue-chip Dow Jones index sliding 1.79%, or 225.70 points, to 12378.75 in afternoon trade in New York.
(from BBC.co.UK)