The U.S. economy yesterday gave new hope the recovery is picking up speed as a booming job market sent the unemployment rate to its lowest level in six years and the Dow topped 17,000 for the first time — rays of sunshine amid record numbers of people giving up looking for work altogether.
"This is making (the market) feel very good. This ... is absolutely phenomenal," said Christine Armstrong, a senior vice president at Morgan Stanley in Boston.
"We were looking to move a millimeter, we took a foot," Armstrong said. "It's a blowout number."
Employers added 288,000 jobs last month, cutting the unemployment rate to 6.1 percent, the lowest since 2008. It was the fifth straight month of job gains over 200,000 and the best stretch since the 1990s tech boom.
On a light, half day of trading before the July Fourth holiday, the markets jumped on the news. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 92.02 points to close at a record 17,068.26 while the Standard & Poor's 500 index flirted with its own 2,000 milestone, closing at 1,985.44.
"We're back on the right track," said Peter Ireland, a Boston College economics professor. "Now, finally, we're beginning to see a real acceleration."
But many people who lost their jobs during the recession are staying on the sidelines. In June, the number of adults who were not working or looking for jobs climbed to a record high of 92,120,000, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Only 62.8 percent of adults either have a job or are looking for one, the bureau said, matching a 36-year low. And many of those who are working don't have the high-paying jobs they once had.
"Think about the number of people who are off the unemployment rolls because they accepted a job where they make $25,000 a year," Armstrong said.
President Obama yesterday noted the positive jobs numbers, but cautioned people are still struggling.
"We still have not seen as much increase in income and wages as we'd like to see," he said.
Over the past 12 months, the economy has added nearly 2.5 million jobs — the fastest year-over-year pace since 2006.
Ireland said the employment gains will have a ripple effect on the rest of the economy. "It's suggestive of the broadening of our recovery," he said. "It's suggestive that prosperity is returning."
Employers added jobs across industries, according to the U.S. Department of Labor, including 67,000 jobs in the professional and business services areas, and 17,000 jobs in the financial sector.
"The employment report was especially sound in both the number of new jobs created and the broad-based nature of these gains," said Doug Handler, chief U.S. economist for IHS Global Insight in a written analysis.
The national numbers follow a strong May jobs report in the Bay State, with the local unemployment rate dipping to a six-year low at 5.6 percent. Gov. Deval Patrick, noting it was the highest level of employment in 24 years, said it's a step in the right direction.
"Frankly, if the recovery hasn't reached you, you could care less about the statistics," Patrick told the Herald last night. "Investing in education, innovation and infrastructure works and we just need to keep that going and keep it moving out so that it touches everybody."
Owen Boss contributed to this report.
Anda sedang membaca artikel tentang
Experts: Economic recovery picking up speed
Dengan url
http://wartawanlocal.blogspot.com/2014/07/experts-economic-recovery-picking-up.html
Anda boleh menyebar luaskannya atau mengcopy paste-nya
Experts: Economic recovery picking up speed
namun jangan lupa untuk meletakkan link
Experts: Economic recovery picking up speed
sebagai sumbernya
0 komentar:
Posting Komentar