3.6 Million

The Lehmann Letter ©

Today the Bureau of Labor Statistics released its December report (http://stats.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.nr0.htm). It said, in part:

“Nonfarm payroll employment declined sharply in December, and the unemployment rate rose from 6.8 to 7.2 percent, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported today. Payroll employment fell by 524,000 over the month and by 1.9 million over the last 4 months of 2008. In December, job losses were large and widespread across most major industry sectors………

“In December, the number of unemployed persons increased by 632,000 to 11.1 million and the unemployment rate rose to 7.2 percent. Since the start of the recession in December 2007, the number of unemployed persons has grown by 3.6 million, and the unemployment rate has risen by 2.3 percentage points……..”

The last sentence bears repeating: The number of unemployed has grown by 3.6 million over the past year.

The new administration can no permit this disaster to proceed unchecked. It must take immediate and drastic action.

© 2009 Michael B. Lehmann