American employers added 175,000 jobs in May, almost exactly the average monthly job growth over the last year, the Labor Department reported Friday, while the unemployment rate ticked up to 7.6 percent.þþThe latest numbers come after a string of other disappointing economic indicators.þþ“In general, the economy is just puttering along,” said Joshua Shapiro, chief United States economist with MFR Inc., a consulting firm. “Companies can get by without hiring people, so they do.”þþConsumers themselves have been pretty upbeat nonetheless, according to recent polling data.þþIn a New York Times/CBS News poll conducted May 31 to June 4, 39 percent of respondents said that the condition of the economy was very or fairly good, the highest share saying this since President Obama took office and even since the recession officially began in December 2007.þþNearly half of respondents – 46 percent — rated the job market in their area as very or fairly good, with a third saying that they think their local job markets will improve over the next year. (The poll has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus three percentage points.)þþSome of this optimism likely has to do with rising home and stock market values, which make consumers feel wealthier. Given the positive outlook among consumers, economists are not sure what is dragging on the economy, particularly given how well the housing market seems to be doing.þþUnusual weather patterns – the mild winter and cold spring — may have played a role in business activity and when employers hired. The across-the-board federal spending cuts that officially began March 1 — known as the sequester — could also be hurting the private sector, although it is hard to tell how much.þþ“Any negative news is going to be blamed on the sequester, which I think is becoming a bit of an excuse at this point,” said Joseph A. LaVorgna, chief United States economist at Deutsche Bank. “It’s a factor, but it’s not as big as people believe it is.”þþThe federal government lost 14,000 jobs in May, and the spending cuts probably also had effects in the private sector, as laid-off or furloughed government workers had less money to spend at their local businesses.þþIn addition to causing layoffs, the sequester could also be affecting those who already have lost their jobs by trimming social safety net services like Meals on Wheels and job training programs. Almost every state has cut its unemployment insurance benefits as a result of the sequester, according to the National Employment Law Project, a labor-oriented research and advocacy organization. Some states, like Florida and Maine, are cutting the weeks for which jobless workers will continue receiving benefits, and others, like Illinois, are reducing the size of the weekly benefit checks (in Illinois, the cut was 16.8 percent). Some states, like Washington and Idaho, are also laying off employees who work in the labor agencies that help workers apply for benefits and find jobs.þþNorth Carolina is ending its federally funded extended unemployment benefits on July 1 because reductions in its state benefits left it ineligible for the federal money.þþ“I’m having a hard time finding somebody who will give a 50-year-old with a few health problems a chance,” said Dwayne Fields of Goldsboro, N.C. He was let go from his warehouse manager job of 12 years last October for “poor job performance” after he told his boss about some health problems, including a diagnosis of cardiomyopathy, hypertension and sleep apnea. He said he has since gotten treatment that has put him back into good working shape, but no one responds to his job applications. And his $212 weekly jobless benefit checks are about to end.þþ“I’m probably too old to flip burgers and deliver pizzas,” he said. “But if worse comes to worst I’ll do it. I’ve got an old lady and a 11-year-old kid to support.”
Source: NY Times
