Still thinking of moving to the US? Read the news lately?

Reba
Moderator


Canuck in NC

Joined: 16 Jul 2004
Posts: 1174
Location: North Carolina

Posted: Sat Mar 08, 2008 7:22 am

 

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Employers slash jobs by most in 5 years
February jobs data seen making recession more likely

WASHINGTON - Dangerous cracks in the nation’s job market are deepening. Employers slashed jobs by the largest amount in five years and hundreds of thousands of people dropped out of the labor force — ominous signs that the country is falling toward a recession or has already toppled into one.

For the second straight month, nervous employers got rid of jobs nationwide. In February, they sliced payrolls by 63,000, even deeper than the 22,000 cut in January, the Labor Department reported Friday.

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.

Losing a job is painful, and I know Americans are concerned about our economy; so am I,” said President Bush. “It’s clear our economy has slowed.”

The big question: Just how much? The weak employment report pushed an increasing number of private economists into believing the economy is probably shrinking now. Under one rough rule, the economy would have to contract for six months for the country to be considered in a recession.

The unemployment rate actually dipped slightly from 4.9 percent to 4.8 percent, as 450,000 people left the labor force for any number of reasons. Economists thought many people probably gave up looking for work.

“It stands to reason that a large share of the people left because they didn’t feel like anything was there for them — that the market was too weak to be searching for a job at this point,” said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Economy.com.

More Here

The roads are no longer paved with gold. I know quite a few people who have just quit looking for work because there just isn't any to be had. Its all over, not just the blue collar stuff.
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Steven
CanuckAbroad VIP



Joined: 28 Sep 2007
Posts: 1122
Location: Calgary

Posted: Tue Mar 11, 2008 10:16 am

 

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I met a guy from Kansas at the weekend who works in construction in Calgary. Anyway, there is some sort of limit on his work permit and he's not sure his employer can renew it or get him permanent residency. So he might have to move back to the US.

So basically, Alberta is in the middle of the worst labour shortage it has ever had, and the US construction industry is in the middle of a total meltdown and we're sending people back.


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Steve.

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Reba
Moderator


Canuck in NC

Joined: 16 Jul 2004
Posts: 1174
Location: North Carolina

Posted: Wed Mar 12, 2008 3:26 am

 

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Industry of just about any sort is basically in a meltdown down here. And its not going to get better any time soon.
_________________
I miss Shreddies!

Are you in the US or Canada? Want to make some extra money? Check out My Watkins website for some awesom products and business opportunity.

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