- Title: USA: Wall St choppy as unemployment falls
- Date: 6th February 2010
- Summary: BROOKLYN, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES (FILE - DECEMBER 2009) (ORIGINALLY 4:3) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF JOB SEEKERS AT A DEPARTMENT OF LABOUR ONE-STOP CAREER CENTRE
- Embargoed: 21st February 2010 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Usa
- Country: USA
- Topics: Finance,Employment
- Reuters ID: LVA7NWTPGIT60FC1P0JDZ1QZJH8A
- Story Text: U.S. stocks dropped and briefly hit session lows in late morning trading on Friday (February 5), on the news that employers unexpectedly cut jobs despite the decline in the unemployment rate in January.
Aneta Markowska, an economist with Societe Generale, says that the labour data is encouraging.
"The work week is getting longer, part-time employment is coming down, that was one of the problems in this recession. So, employers are starting to switch some of those part-time workers back into full-time," said Markowska.
One of the important improvements in the jobs data was the manufacturing sector, which showed slight improvement. But U.S. Labour Secretary, Hilda Solis says there is still much to be done.
"We have to continue to make sure that we stop the job loss and we have been able to do some of that. But we know that we need to put these people who have become discouraged to get back in the mode of looking for a job," Solis told Reuters.
Markowska warned that, in terms of the markets, there won't be sustainable economic growth without improved employment figures.
"Employment growth is sort of the key element to sustaining the recovery. Without employment, the recovery would likely falter by about the middle of the year," said Markowska.
The Dow Jones industrial average was down 65.37 points, or 0.65 percent, at 9,936.81. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index was down 6.83 points, or 0.64 percent, at 1,056.28. The Nasdaq Composite Index was down 5.06 points, or 0.24 percent, at 2,120.37. - Copyright Holder: FILE REUTERS (CAN SELL)
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