/ 2 May 2008

US economy shed 20 000 jobs in April

United States employers cut 20 000 jobs in April in a relatively stable showing for the US labour market as the jobless rate fell a tenth of a percentage point to 5%, the Labour Department said Friday.

Despite the negative figure on payrolls, the report was better than expected by private economists, who on average had called a loss of 75 000 jobs and a jobless rate of 5,2%.

“Job losses are way below the recession norm for this point of business cycle, if this is recession,” said Robert Brusca at FAO Economics. “Many things do not really add up for the recession forecasters.” — AFP