(Crossposted at the Change to Win blog, CtW Connect)
… you can find it in today’s jobs report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics:
Nonfarm payroll employment fell sharply (-533,000) in November, and the unemployment rate rose from 6.5 to 6.7 percent, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported today. November’s drop in payroll employment followed declines of 403,000 in September and 320,000 in October, as revised. Job losses were large and widespread across the major industry sectors in November.
What does this mean for the average worker -- and what does President-Elect Barack Obama think we need to do to turn things around? Find out after the jump...
To put those numbers in some perspective:
In response to the deepening crisis, President-Elect Barack Obama stated that the time has come to “transform our economy to improve the lives of ordinary people”:
The 533,000 jobs lost last month, the worst job loss in 34 years, is more than a dramatic reflection of the growing economic crisis we face. Each of those lost jobs represents a personal crisis for a family somewhere in America. Our economy has already lost nearly 2 million jobs during this recession, which is why we need an Economic Recovery Plan that will save or create at least 2.5 million more jobs over two years while we act decisively to maintain the flows of credit on which so many American families and American businesses depend.
There are no quick or easy fixes to this crisis, which has been many years in the making, and it’s likely to get worse before it gets better. But now is the time to respond with urgent resolve to put people back to work and get our economy moving again. At the same time, this painful crisis also provides us with an opportunity to transform our economy to improve the lives of ordinary people by rebuilding roads and modernizing schools for our children, investing in clean energy solutions to break our dependence on imported oil, and making an early down payment on the long-term reforms that will grow and strengthen our economy for all Americans for years to come.
Unfortunately he’s not going to be President until January 20th, which means we have 46 more days before he can actually start making that transformation happen. Until then the economy is still in the hands of George W. Bush.
Happy Friday! (sigh)