Unemployment Startles Economists Expecting Greater Job Creation
Though the private sector created jobs in November for the eleventh consecutive month, it only added 50,000 of them across all sectors, which is not enough to offset those that are unemployed.
Posted: December 15, 2010
All three broadcast networks led with the surprising increase in unemployment to 9.8 percent in November, stunning news that came just a day after indicators that the employment situation might be improving. ABC World News (12/3, lead story, Sawyer) reported, “Hopes were so high today for some good news on the number of jobs created in America last month. Hope for some holiday cheer at the end of this long, tough year. But instead, the unemployment rate last month rose to 9.8 percent, the highest since April. Only 39,000 jobs were added.”
ABC (Muir) added, “For months now we’ve seen very slow job growth. This was far slower than anyone expected. . . No matter how you look at it, economists say these job numbers are a huge disappointment, far below their hope that 160,000 jobs would have been created in the private sector.”
The CBS Evening News (12/3, lead story, 3:15, Couric) reported unemployment is “getting worse and becoming chronically high. . . This news seemed to catch everybody off guard.” CBS (Mason) added, “This was a pretty limp number and it baffled economists who were expecting a much stronger one. For the 11th straight month, the private sector created jobs in November, but just 50,000 of them.”
NBC Nightly News (12/3, lead story, 3:20, Williams) reported, “the unemployment rate has gone up, right on top of the holiday season. . . Bad economic news in an already bad economy.”
The AP (12/3, Aversa) reported, “The nation added only a trickle of jobs in November, far fewer than experts had expected and a reminder that the economy is still recovering only fitfully.” The job market “was weak all around: Stores, factories, construction companies and financial firms all cut positions. The unemployment rate nudged closer to double digits again ? 9.8 percent, after three straight months at 9.6 percent. Employers added 39,000 jobs for the month, the Labor Department said Friday. They added 172,000 in October ? enough to qualify as a hiring spurt in this anemic post-recession economy.”
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