Gloomy Labor Day Article

[I D Shukhov]

 

The unemployment and "underemployment" rate is 16.8 percent -- this includes the officially unemployed plus   all part-time workers who'd prefer full-time jobs, as well as discouraged and demoralized job-seekers who have stopped looking for work.    

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"The 1982 recession was largely caused by the desire to break the back of inflation," says economist Nigel Gault of IHS. "Once the [Federal   Reserve] was comfortable it had broken inflation, it lowered interest rates, and economic growth took off." Interest-sensitive sectors -- autos and   housing -- propelled recovery. By contrast, today's slump results from financial crisis, Gault says. The Fed has already cut interest rates, which will   probably go up. As overborrowed households repay debt, their spending will be sluggish. The weak recovery then retards new jobs.

Robert Samuelson:  http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2009/09/07/a_somber_labor_day_98198.htm