There’s no arguing that the current job market isn’t favorable to those looking for work, but the Wall Street Journal’s MarketWatch.com says that November’s report will likely show the worst job losses in the last 30 years. It is expected that somewhere around 350,000 jobs were done away with across the nation during the month, which is the largest decrease to occur since 400,000 positions were cut in May of 1980. According to the U.S. Labor Department, as of October, this year over a million jobs have been cut.
MaketWatch’s opinion that the job market situation is about to worsen is based primarily on the large number of individuals filling for unemployment benefits for the first time. Recently claimants have crossed the 500,000 point, which is more than a 50 percent increase since last year. Healthy job markets usually have around only 300,000 to 325,000 people claiming unemployment benefits.
Others feel that the job losses experienced during November may be worse. Economists from IHS Global Insight believe that as many as 370,000 positions were cut during the month.“Unemployment insurance claims have climbed rapidly as businesses are shedding labor and hiring is anemic,” said an analysts from Global Insight in a recent research note. “Retail employment is likely to fall very sharply since the usual seasonal uptick in hiring will be muted– translating into a steep seasonally adjusted decline.”
During October alone, American payrolls dropped by 240,000 positions. If MarketWatch and others are correct about Novembers decreases then the end of the four month period will show a loss of more than one million jobs.
“Weakness should be broad based across most industries given the high degree of caution and the need for employers to manage costs aggressively in this recessionary environment,” wrote one analysts with Credit Suisse.
MarketWatch analysts expect that unemployment will reflect these losses by increasing from October’s 6.5 percent to 6.8 percent. If this does occur, then it will be the highest jobless rate that the country has had since 1993.
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