American pink slips continue to mount this winter, with the national unemployment rate reaching a postwar high of 7.2 percent for the month of December, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. Job losses reached 2.6 million in 2008—the most since 1940s, and some experts predicted that 2009 would bring the worst unemployment rate since the Great Depression of the 1930s.
In New York, North Carolina and Ohio this week, unemployment claims meet an obstacle when websites crashed and phone lines became weak under a barrage (连珠炮) of requests for relief. December and January losses are fed by some of the nation’s biggest corporations, including AT&T, DuPont, Walgreen and Alcoa.
Sectors hard hit in the labor department’s just-released end-of-2008 report include construction, which has dropped 899,000 total jobs since 2006; factory jobs, down 791,000 for 2008; temp work, down 490,000 positions last year; and retail, which saw 522,000 fewer gigs (数字) in 2008. The few employment bright spots included education, government and healthcare, the latter of which was up 32,000 positions in December alone.
"The jobs market is still in a free fall," said Global Insight chief economist Nariman Behravesh in a statement. His firm predicts that the unemployment rate will continue to climb to as high as 9.5 percent in 2009 if a federal stimulus package doesn’t stem the flow of job losses.
Some experts suggest that the percentage of unemployed workers is actually in the double digits when the marginally employed and perpetually unemployed are counted. "We think it’s going to be a nasty employment situation in 2009," says Kevin Fehas, associate director of the Jerome Levy Forecasting Center.
Is there any good news Tig Gilliam, North American CEO of the employment solutions giant at Adecco, says there’s still demand for highly skilled workers in such sectors as finance, accounting, information technology and engineering, the latter two seeing 1,400 openings listed today at Adeeeo.
What’s more, Jason Zickerman, CEO and president of business owners’ peer group—The Ahemativc Board, says entrepreneurs who are considering cutting their work forces can find creative ways to keep their people and still save money. He suggests implementing a four-day work week, extra weeks of unpaid vacation, and partial-or no-pay education sabbaticals (年休假). "When your employees see you’re doing everything in your power to avoid layoffs, it promotes allegiance," Zickerman says.
Meanwhile, Feltes predicts that while ’09 will be a tough year economically, there will be light at the end of the tunnel starting in 2010. The percentage of unemployed workers is in the double digits when______.
A. those who will be fired soon and those who never ever have a job are counted
B. those who have been fired already and those who are going to be fired are counted
C. those who have been fired already are counted
D. children and women who always stay at home are counted