Yesterday's jobs report told a tale of weakness. The U.S. economy lost over 60,000 jobs in the short month of February and over 20,000 jobs in January. An AP article says the pink slips have increased and some economists hear the recession bell ringing.
The grim snapshot of the country's employment climate underscored the heavy toll the housing and credit debacles are taking on companies, jobseekers and the economy as a whole.
"It sounds like the recession bell is ringing for the U.S. economy, although it is still faint," said Stuart Hoffman, chief economist at PNC Financial Services Group.
On Wall Street, stocks tumbled. The Dow Jones lost 146.70 points, a little more than 1 percent to close at 11,893.69. The Dow was down 370 for the last two days of the week.
The worsening situation will prompt the Federal Reserve to cut a key interest rate deeply -- perhaps by as much as three-quarters of a percentage point -- at its next meeting March 18, or possibly sooner, to help brace the teetering economy, analysts predicted.
The shower of pink slips was widespread. Factories, construction companies, mortgage brokers, real-estate firms, retailers, temporary-help firms, child day-care providers, hotels, educational services, accounting firms and computer designers were among those shedding jobs. All those cuts swamped job gains at hospitals and other health care sites, bars and restaurants, legal services and the government.
President Bush was quick to reassure everyone that the economy is not in a recession. Bush said, "I know this is a difficult time for our economy, but we recognized the problem early and provided the economy with a booster shot. We will begin to see the impact over the coming months."
Less and less people are expecting the quick recovery that President Bush is. With the DOW falling under the 12,000 mark Friday next week could be a difficult one.
