The US unemployment rate rose in April to 6 percent, the highest in 7 1/2 years, and the economy created fewer jobs than expected, government figures showed.
Payrolls grew by 43,000 after falling by a revised 21,000 in March, the Labor Department said. Analysts had expected a gain of 55,000 last month. Unemployment increased from 5.7 percent and was the highest since August 1994. The jobless rate rose as the improving economy attracted to the labor force more people who were unable to find jobs.
Factories boosted overtime rather than adding workers as an economy that grew in the first quarter at the fastest pace in two years shows signs of cooling. Demand for temporary workers from companies such as Kelly Services Inc helped boost service employment for a fifth straight month. Construction employment fell.
"They're hiring the temporary workers and adding hours and not putting people on the full-time payroll," said David Wyss, chief economist at Standard & Poor's in New York, before the report.
Businesses not sure about the strength of the economic rebound put off hiring full-time employees and are instead asking existing employees to work more. Manu-facturing overtime hours increased six minutes to 4.3 hours, the highest since November 2000.
Analysts had expected an increase in payrolls after a previously reported gain of 58,000 in March. They had also projected that the unemployment rate would increase to 5.8 percent, based on the median of 60 forecasts in a Bloomberg News survey.
The report comes four days before US Federal Reserve policy makers meet and helps explain why analysts expect the central bank to leave the overnight bank lending rate at a 40-year low. Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan has called the labor market the "most central factor" in the economic outlook.
"We're in the early stages of a recovery and the recovery is being driven by productivity and in that kind of environment there really isn't much need to raise interest rates," said Mark Vitner, senior economist at Wachovia Securities.
RETHINK? The defense ministry and Navy Command Headquarters could take over the indigenous submarine project and change its production timeline, a source said Admiral Huang Shu-kuang’s (黃曙光) resignation as head of the Indigenous Submarine Program and as a member of the National Security Council could affect the production of submarines, a source said yesterday. Huang in a statement last night said he had decided to resign due to national security concerns while expressing the hope that it would put a stop to political wrangling that only undermines the advancement of the nation’s defense capabilities. Taiwan People’s Party Legislator Vivian Huang (黃珊珊) yesterday said that the admiral, her older brother, felt it was time for him to step down and that he had completed what he
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
CHINA REACTS: The patrol and reconnaissance plane ‘transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,’ the 7th Fleet said, while Taipei said it saw nothing unusual The US 7th Fleet yesterday said that a US Navy P-8A Poseidon flew through the Taiwan Strait, a day after US and Chinese defense heads held their first talks since November 2022 in an effort to reduce regional tensions. The patrol and reconnaissance plane “transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,” the 7th Fleet said in a news release. “By operating within the Taiwan Strait in accordance with international law, the United States upholds the navigational rights and freedoms of all nations.” In a separate statement, the Ministry of National Defense said that it monitored nearby waters and airspace as the aircraft