hindu . com ^ | 7 6 12
Storm clouds hovering above Europe, the U.S. debt overhang, and feeble housing market economics continued to hobble the prospect of improvement in the U.S. job market in June. Non-farm payroll employment showed tepid growth, and edged up by a mere 80,000 jobs, leaving the overall unemployment rate essentially unchanged at 8.2 per cent.
This dismal monthly statistics, which is entirely in line with the U.S. Federal Reserve’s earlier decision to hold federal rates low until 2014, may dampen the spirits of the Obama administration in an election year, especially as nearly 13 million people are without work.
Leaving little doubt that the stagnant unemployment rate was becoming a hot campaign issue in the run-up to November poll, Andrea Saul, presidential hopeful Mitt Romney’s press spokesperson, said in a tweet, “This is weakest job adding quarter in two years.
“Still more Americans unemployed than when Obama took office.”
African-Americans comprised the only major ethnic group for whom unemployment ticked upwards, to 14.4 per cent...
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