14 DAY TRIAL // Over the past couple of months, the abysmal state of the US economy has gradually began to recover, as the stimulus measures employed by president Obama and the federal government slowly began to go into effect. For the last month, employees only cut 345,000 jobs, which is less than the previsions made by officials for last month, and far less than the total number of unemployed authorities were fearing. Despite the positive aspects, the unemployment rate has now jumped to 9.4 percent from 8.9 in April, which means that the country is on a level equivalent to that of 1983, the worst in 26 years.
The recent numbers were released by the US Labor Department, and they also show that the job cuts that took place in March (652,000) and April (504,000) were in fact lower than expected. It becomes clearer now, authorities say, that the United States have taken the correct steps in dealing with the financial crisis that struck the country in recent years, and that the measures agreed upon by representatives are working, despite criticism. Republicans have voiced the most criticism about the hundreds of billions of dollars in aid that were granted to banks and industry, but Democrats rightfully pointed out that it was the other party who created the situation in the first place.
The unemployment rate for May is believed to go down to 9.2 percent, although it may be possible that more job cuts will be made this month than in the last. At this point, there is little more authorities can do, except for waiting for the results of their efforts. Undoubtedly, if bank executives around the country had taken home fewer billions of dollars in payments and stock options, the national economy would have gotten stronger a lot sooner, some say, but it would appear that individual gain is more important to bankers than a stable status quo in the economic sector.
According to the Labor Department, since the crisis started, in December 2007, more than 6 million Americans lost their jobs, out of a population of little more than 300 millions. In April, the government hired massive numbers of people, around 92,000, all in positions related to the upcoming 2010 census. However, in May, it cut 7,000 of these positions. In education and healthcare, the number of payrolls increased last month by about 44,000, bringing the total increase to 53,000 in just two months. These are clear signs that something must be going right, analysts say, quoted by Reuters.