It isn't supposed to be this way. After a recession, an improving economy is supposed to bring people back into the job market. Instead, the number of Americans in the labor force — those who have a job or are looking for one — fell by nearly half a million people from February to March, the government said Friday.
The economy continued to grow steadily last month despite Washington's impasse over the fiscal cliff, with unemployment staying at a four-year low of 7.8 percent as businesses created another 155,000 jobs, the Labor Department reported Friday morning.
What tops the holiday wish list for American small-business owners? Economic certainty. Certainty is everything for a small business, and Washington is a large part of providing that certainty - or uncertainty. When business owners don't know what's on the horizon, they are forced to curtail hiring and halt reinvesting in their business in order to start saving for a possible new legislative policy or regulation from the federal government.
The economy last month offered up no new jobs in celebration of Labor Day and appears in danger of slipping back into recession despite massive efforts by Congress and the Federal Reserve in the past three years to keep it afloat.
President Obama's chief economist is departing as the administration's nearly trillion-dollar recovery is losing steam and Mr. Obama concedes that lackluster job growth could become a trend.
The nation's unemployment rate plunged from 9.4 percent to 9 percent last month apparently as thousands of people decided to sit out snowstorms and suspended their search for work, the Labor Department reported Friday morning.
If Congress lets unemployment benefits expire this week, the jobless won't be the only ones to feel the pain: The overall economy would suffer, too.
