Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications
Tuesday, May 10, 2005
Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications Tuesday, May 10, 2005 |
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Industry & Economy
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Economy `US job growth is just a wayside puddle' Sridhar Krishnaswami
Washington , May 9 EVEN as solid majority of Americans continue to cast doubt on the directions of this Bush administration's economic policy, the Labour Department is pointing to April statistics that shows nearly a quarter of a million new jobs that have been added leaving some economic analysts to come to the immediate conclusion that the so-called soft patch may be no more than a "puddle" by the wayside. According to latest figures of the Labour Department that Republicans law makers have slowly started going to town with, 274,000 new jobs were added in such areas as healthcare, education, construction-finance and housing related industries. This figure represents some 93,000 more than the past three months even as the unemployment rate remained steady at 5.2 per cent. "The feared soft patch looks now like just a puddle by the side of the road. The US jobs machine has finally shifted into a higher gear," remarked Mr Bill Cheney, Chief Economist for the Hancock Financial Services. There has been the general concern in this country and elsewhere that the economy was heading for deep trouble given the rising energy prices. The latest figures show a dip in the realm of manufacturing jobs primarily in the textiles and furniture sectors, but there has been a surge of about 47,000 construction jobs along with 35,000 new jobs in healthcare and education; 36,000 fresh openings in professional business services and another 58,000 in the leisure and hospitality businesses. But what has also been pointed out is that the optimistic and upbeat figures of the Labour Department does not go hand-in-hand with the overall perception of the economy and of the directions this Republican administration. It has been specifically noted that, in the last three months, consumer confidence is sinking in spite of job growth, and this has been passed off at the soaring gasoline prices at the pump and the general decline in stock market. Republicans in Congress have hailed the job growth report and are making the point that this is as a result of their policies. "We have had two years of solid job growth because Americans elected a Republican Congress that is putting the right policies in place," the House Speaker, Mr Dennis Hastert, has been quoted.
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