Great recession may be bottoming out, but workers still have a long way to go

http://www.workdayminnesota.org/index.php?news_6_4150

By Mark Gruenberg
8 September 2009

WASHINGTON - The Great Recession that hit the U.S. starting in December 2007 may be bottoming out. But there’s still a long way to go for recovery, especially for workers, the labor-backed Economic Policy Institute says.

In its updated report, The State of Working America 2008-2009, and in a Sept. 2 telephone press conference, co-authors Lawrence Mishel and Heidi Shierholtz described the huge dimensions of the crash caused by policies of anti-worker then-GOP President George W. Bush and his business backers.

And it would have been worse without the stimulus law Democratic President Barack Obama pushed through earlier this year, Shierholtz told reporters.

“Job losses would have been so high that the July unemployment figures would have been 9.6% or 9.7%, not 9.4%,” she explained. “Still, we expect a steady climb in the unemployment rate up and over 10% by the end of this year.” And it’ll rise slightly above that figure for a few months in 2010 before turning downwards, Mishel predicted.

“But we still have a long way to go,” she warned. “Until the economy is adding 122,000 jobs a month to take care of new people coming into the job market, unemployment will stay high.” In August, the economy shed 216,000 jobs.

All this is more than just dry numbers, the two said. One-third of the jobless, a record, have been out of work at least six months, and many have exhausted their unemployment benefits. That translates into bankruptcies, lost homes, no medical care and more ills afflicting workers -- even employed workers -- Mishel pointed out.

FULL story at link.

the unemployment rate will get better soon when consumer spending hasn't hit bottom yet and will only result in more unemployment?
Why won't our Democrat controlled congress repeal NAFTA?
I see this as the only long term option since it has failed miserably. It will take years to recover even some of those manufacturing jobs that were lost even after it is repealed. For the short term, stop giving away billions into trickle down theories that have never worked and create massive public works projects, where jobs are created now.
Where are the Democrats who where supposed to fix this?
I haven't seen anything from Obama that will be good for long term stability.
Sure wish I had a job.