Job Losses Continue to Mount
Job losses in the month of September were far worse than expected, pushing the national unemployment rate to a 26-year high of 9.8 percent, the U.S. Labor Department reported today.
According to the U.S. Labor Department, 263,000 jobs were shed during the month. Economists had expected a number closer to 175,000.
The September figures pushed the national unemployment rate even closer to double digits at 9.8 percent. That is up from 9.7 percent in August. Most economist believe that the unemployment rate will top 10 percent by the end of the year.
There are currently over 15 million unemployed Americans and over half of those – 52 percent – have already reached the end of their unemployment benefits.
Nearly every major sector of the economy lost jobs in September except for the health care industry, which added 19,000 jobs.
Construction payrolls fell by 64,000, while manufacturing lost 51,000 jobs in September. Retailers cut 39,000 jobs and the government even cut its workforce by 51,000 jobs.
In his new book, “Saving Capitalism,” economist, author and former vice presidential candidate Pat Choate suggests that jobs could be saved if industries would use existing trade laws to seek out short-term import relief.
Much in the same way that the tire industry recently convinced President Barack Obama to impose strict tariffs on Chinese imports, Choate says that many American industries could do the same. He lists the auto industry, the electronics production sector, the textile and apparel industry, the chemical industry and machinery manufacturers as industries that have been severely hurt by foreign imports and would be eligible for import relief.
Choate also writes that, in the long-term, a system of centralized industrial planning would stem the tide of jobs loss.
“The United States has dozens of policies for a multitude of industries and situations, but unlike the policies of other nations, they are neither explicit nor coherent,” he writes. “Rather, they are an accumulation of random decision that affect specific parts of the economy, often in powerful ways.”
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