President Obama Weekly Address 03/07/09 PODCAST VIDEO TEXT

SATURDAY, March 07, 2009 WEEKLY ADDRESS BY THE PRESIDENT TO THE NATION PODCAST OF THIS ARTICLE Download MP3 4.8 mb

Yesterday, we learned that the economy lost another 651,000 jobs in the month of February, which brings the total number of jobs lost in this recession to 4.4 million. The unemployment rate has now surpassed 8 percent, the highest rate in a quarter century.

These aren't just statistics, but hardships experienced personally by millions of Americans who no longer know how they'll pay their bills, or make their mortgage, or raise their families.

From the day I took office, I knew that solving this crisis would not be easy, nor would it happen overnight. And we will continue to face difficult days in the months ahead. But I also believe that we will get through this -- that if we act swiftly and boldly and responsibly, the United States of America will emerge stronger and more prosperous than it was before.

That's why my administration is committed to doing all that's necessary to address this crisis and lead us to a better day. That's why we're moving forward with an economic agenda that will jumpstart job creation, restart lending, relieve responsible homeowners, and address the long-term economic challenges of our time: the cost of health care, our dependence on oil, and the state of our schools.

To prevent foreclosures for as many as 4 million homeowners -- and lower interest rates and lift home values for millions more -- we are implementing a plan to allow lenders to work with borrowers to refinance or restructure their mortgages. On Wednesday, the Department of Treasury and Housing and Urban Development released the guidelines that lenders will use for lowering mortgage payments. This plan is now at work.

To restore the availability of affordable loans for families and businesses -- not just banks -- we are taking steps to restart the flow of credit and stabilize the financial markets. On Thursday, the Treasury Department and the Federal Reserve launched the Consumer and Business Lending Initiative -- a plan that will generate up to a trillion dollars of new lending so that families can finance a car or college education -- and small businesses can raise the capital that will create jobs.

And we've already begun to implement the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act -- a plan that will save and create over 3.5 million jobs over the next two years -- jobs rebuilding our roads and bridges, constructing wind turbines and solar panels, expanding broadband and mass transit. And because of this plan, those who have lost their job in this recession will be able to receive extended unemployment benefits and continued health care coverage, while 95 percent of working Americans will receive a tax break beginning April 1st.

Of course, like every family going through hard times, our country must make tough choices. In order to pay for the things we need -- we cannot waste money on the things we don't.

My administration inherited a $1.3 trillion budget deficit, the largest in history. And we've inherited a budgeting process as irresponsible as it is unsustainable. For years, as Wall Street used accounting tricks to conceal costs and avoid responsibility, Washington did, too.

These kinds of irresponsible budgets -- and inexcusable practices -- are now in the past. For the first time in many years, my administration has produced a budget that represents an honest reckoning of where we are and where we need to go.

It's also a budget that begins to make the hard choices that we've avoided for far too long -- a strategy that cuts where we must and invests where we need. That's why it includes $2 trillion in deficit reduction, while making historic investments in America's future. That's why it reduces discretionary spending for non-defense programs as a share of the economy by more than 10 percent over the next decade -- to the lowest level since they began keeping these records nearly half a century ago. And that's why on Wednesday, I signed a presidential memorandum to end unnecessary no-bid contracts and dramatically reform the way contracts are awarded -- reforms that will save the American people up to $40 billion each year.

Finally, because we cannot bring our deficit down or grow our economy without tackling the skyrocketing cost of health care, I held a health care summit on Thursday to begin the long-overdue process of reform. Our ideas and opinions about how to achieve this reform will vary, but our goal must be the same: quality, affordable health care for every American that no longer overwhelms the budgets of families, businesses, and our government.

Yes, this is a moment of challenge for our country. But we've experienced great trials before. And with every test, each generation has found the capacity to not only endure, but to prosper -- to discover great opportunity in the midst of great crisis. That is what we can and must do today. And I am absolutely confident that is what we will do. I'm confident that at this defining moment, we will prove ourselves worthy of the sacrifice of those who came before us, and the promise of those who will come after. ###

Author: whitehouse.gov
Keywords: President Barack Obama; Weekly Address; White House
Creative Commons license: Public Domain

Employment Situation Summary FEBRUARY 2009

Technical information:
Household data: (202) 691-6378 USDL 09-0224
http://www.bls.gov/cps/

Establishment data: (202) 691-6555 Transmission of material in this release
http://www.bls.gov/ces/ is embargoed until 8:30 A.M. (EST),
Media contact: (202) 691-5902 Friday, March 6, 2009.


THE EMPLOYMENT SITUATION: FEBRUARY 2009

Nonfarm payroll employment continued to fall sharply in February (-651,000), and the unemployment rate rose from 7.6 to 8.1 percent, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported today. Payroll employment has declined by 2.6 million in the past 4 months. In February, job losses were large and widespread across nearly all major industry sectors.

Unemployment (Household Survey Data)

The number of unemployed persons increased by 851,000 to 12.5 million in February, and the unemployment rate rose to 8.1 percent. Over the past 12 months, the number of unemployed persons has increased by about 5.0 million, and the unemployment rate has risen by 3.3 percentage points. (See table A-1.)

The unemployment rate continued to trend upward in February for adult men (8.1 percent), adult women (6.7 percent), whites (7.3 percent), blacks (13.4 percent), and Hispanics (10.9 percent). The jobless rate for teenagers was little changed at 21.6 percent. The unemployment rate for Asians was 6.9 percent in February, not seasonally adjusted. (See tables A-1, A-2, and A-3.)

Among the unemployed, the number of job losers and persons who completed temporary jobs increased by 716,000 to 7.7 million in February. This measure has grown by 3.8 million in the last 12 months. (See table A-8.)

The number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks or more) increased by 270,000 to 2.9 million in February. Over the past 12 months, the number of long-term unemployed was up by 1.6 million. (See table A-9.)

- 2 -

Table A. Major indicators of labor market activity, seasonally adjusted (Numbers in thousands)

_______________________________________________________________________________
                  |                 |                          |  
                  |    Quarterly    |                          |  
                  |     averages    |       Monthly data       |  Jan.-
 Category         |_________________|__________________________|  Feb.
                  |        |        |        |        |        | change
                  |  III   |   IV   |  Dec.  |  Jan.  |  Feb.  |  
                  |  2008  |  2008  |  2008  |  2009  |  2009  |  
__________________|________|________|________|________|________|________
                  |                                               
HOUSEHOLD DATA    |                 Labor force status            
                  |_____________________________________________________
                  |        |        |        |        |        |  
Civilian labor force .| 154,650| 154,648| 154,447| 153,716| 154,214|     498
Employment ...........| 145,299| 144,046| 143,338| 142,099| 141,748|    -351
Unemployment .........|   9,350|  10,602|  11,108|  11,616|  12,467|     851
Not in labor force....|  79,460|  80,177|  80,588|  81,023|  80,699|    -324
                  |________|________|________|________|________|________
                  |                                               
                  |                 Unemployment rates            
                  |_____________________________________________________
                  |        |        |        |        |        |  
All workers .......|     6.0|     6.9|     7.2|     7.6|     8.1|     0.5
Adult men .........|     5.8|     6.8|     7.2|     7.6|     8.1|      .5
Adult women .......|     5.0|     5.6|     5.9|     6.2|     6.7|      .5
Teenagers .........|    19.7|    20.7|    20.8|    20.8|    21.6|      .8
White .............|     5.4|     6.3|     6.6|     6.9|     7.3|      .4
Black or African   |        |        |        |        |        |  
American ..........|    10.7|    11.5|    11.9|    12.6|    13.4|      .8
Hispanic or Latino |        |        |        |        |        |     
ethnicity ........ |     7.8|     8.9|     9.2|     9.7|    10.9|     1.2
                   |________|________|________|________|________|________
                   |                                                  
ESTABLISHMENT DATA |                     Employment                   
                   |_____________________________________________________
                   |        |        |        |        |        |     
Nonfarm employment.| 137,004| 135,727| 135,074|p134,419|p133,768|   p-651
Goods-producing (1)|  21,343|  20,803|  20,532| p20,153| p19,877|   p-276
Construction ......|   7,170|   6,949|   6,841|  p6,723|  p6,619|   p-104
Manufacturing .....|  13,388|  13,062|  12,902| p12,645| p12,477|   p-168
Service-providing(1| 115,661| 114,924| 114,542|p114,266|p113,891|   p-375
  Retail trade (2) |  15,331|  15,127|  15,038| p14,999| p14,960|    p-40
Professional and   |        |        |        |        |        |     
 business services |  17,730|  17,485|  17,356| p17,222| p17,042|   p-180
Education and health|        |        |        |        |        |     
 services .........|  18,932|  19,035|  19,080| p19,123| p19,149|     p26
Leisure and        |        |        |        |        |        |     
  hospitality .....|  13,452|  13,348|  13,304| p13,275| p13,242|    p-33
Government ........|  22,543|  22,538|  22,532| p22,563| p22,572|      p9
                   |________|________|________|________|________|________
                   |                                                  
                   |                  Hours of work (3)               
                   |_____________________________________________________
                   |        |        |        |        |        |     
Total private .....|    33.6|    33.4|    33.3|   p33.3|   p33.3|    p0.0
Manufacturing .....|    40.8|    40.2|    39.9|   p39.8|   p39.6|    p-.2
Overtime ..........|     3.6|     3.2|     2.9|    p2.8|    p2.6|    p-.2
                   |________|________|________|________|________|________
                   |                                                  
                   |   Indexes of aggregate weekly hours (2002=100)(3)
                   |_____________________________________________________
                   |        |        |        |        |        |     
Total private .....|   106.1|   104.1|   103.2|  p102.6|  p101.9|   p-0.7
                   |________|________|________|________|________|________

|                                                  
                        |                     Earnings (3)                 
                        |  _____________________________________________________
Average hourly earnings,|        |        |        |        |        |     
total private ......... |  $18.16|  $18.34|  $18.40| p$18.44| p$18.47|  p$0.03
Average weekly earnings,|        |        |        |        |        |     
total private ......... |  610.90|  612.55|  612.72| p614.05| p615.05|   p1.00
_______________________ |________|________|________|________|________|________

1 Includes other industries, not shown separately.
2 Quarterly averages and the over-the-month change are calculated using
unrounded data.
3 Data relate to private production and nonsupervisory workers.
p = preliminary. - 3 -

Total Employment and the Labor Force (Household Survey Data)

The civilian labor force participation rate was about unchanged at 65.6 percent. The employment-population ratio, at 60.3 percent in February, continued to trend down. The ratio has declined by 2.4 percentage points over the year. (See table A-1.)

In February, the number of persons who worked part time for economic reasons (sometimes referred to as involuntary part-time workers) rose by 787,000, reaching 8.6 million. The number of such workers rose by 3.7 million over the past 12 months. This category includes persons who would like to work full time but were working part time because their hours had been cut back or because they were unable to find full-time jobs. (See table A-5.)

Persons Not in the Labor Force (Household Survey Data)

About 2.1 million persons (not seasonally adjusted) were marginally attached to the labor force in February, 466,000 more than a year earlier. These individuals wanted and were available for work and had looked for a job sometime in the prior 12 months. They were not counted as unemployed because they had not searched for work in the 4 weeks preceding the survey. Among the marginally attached, there were 731,000 discouraged workers in February, up by 335,000 from a year earlier. Discouraged workers are persons not currently looking for work because they believe no jobs are available for them. The other 1.3 million persons marginally attached to the labor force in February had not searched for work in the 4 weeks preceding
the survey for reasons such as school attendance or family responsibilities. (See table A-13.)

Industry Payroll Employment (Establishment Survey Data)

Total nonfarm payroll employment dropped by 651,000 in February. Since the recession began in December 2007, about 4.4 million jobs have been lost, with more than half (2.6 million) of the decrease occurring in the last 4 months. In February, employment declined in most major industry sectors, with the largest losses occurring in professional and business services, manufacturing, and construction. Health care continued to add jobs over the month. (See table B-1.)

Employment in professional and business services fell by 180,000 in February. The temporary help industry lost 78,000 jobs over the month. Since December 2007, temporary help employment has declined by 686,000, or 27 percent. In February, job declines also occurred in services to buildings and dwellings (-17,000), architectural and engineering services (-16,000), and business support services (-12,000).

Widespread job losses continued in manufacturing in February (-168,000). The majority of the decline occurred in durable goods industries (-132,000), with the largest decreases in fabricated metal products (-28,000) and machinery (-25,000). Employment in nondurable goods manufacturing declined by 36,000 over the month.

The construction industry lost 104,000 jobs in February. Employment in the industry has fallen by 1.1 million since peaking in January 2007. Two-fifths of that decline occurred over the last 4 months. Employment fell sharply in both the residential and nonresidential components of the industry in February.

Employment in truck transportation declined by 33,000 in February; the industry has lost 138,000 jobs since the start of the recession in December 2007. Nearly two-thirds of the decline (-88,000) occurred over the last 4 months. The information industry continued to lose jobs (-15,000). Over the last 4 months, employment in the industry has decreased by 76,000, with about two-fifths of the decline occurring in publishing.

- 4 -

Employment in financial activities continued to decline in February (-44,000). The number of jobs in this industry has dropped by 448,000 since an employment peak in December 2006, with half of this loss occurring in the past 6 months. In February, job losses occurred in real estate (-11,000); credit intermediation (-11,000); and securities, commodity contracts, and investments (-8,000).

Retail trade employment fell by 40,000 over the month and has declined by 608,000 since December 2007. In February, employment decreased in automobile dealerships (-9,000), sporting goods (-9,000), furniture and home furnishing stores (-8,000), and building material and garden supply stores (-7,000). Employment in wholesale trade fell by 37,000 over the month, with nearly all of the decline occurring in durable goods.

Employment in leisure and hospitality continued to trend down over the month (-33,000), with about half of the decrease in the accommodation industry (-18,000).

Health care continued to add jobs in February, with a gain of 27,000. Job growth occurred in ambulatory health care (16,000) and in hospitals (7,000).

The change in total nonfarm employment for December was revised from -577,000 to -681,000 and the change for January was revised from -598,000 to -655,000. Monthly revisions result from additional sample reports and the monthly recalculation of seasonal factors.

Weekly Hours (Establishment Survey Data)

In February, the average workweek for production and nonsupervisory workers on private nonfarm payrolls was 33.3 hours for the third month in a row. Both the manufacturing workweek and factory overtime decreased by 0.2 hour over the month to 39.6 and 2.6 hours, respectively. (See table B-2.)

The index of aggregate weekly hours of production and nonsupervisory workers on private nonfarm payrolls fell by 0.7 percent in February. The manufacturing index declined by 2.0 percent over the month. (See table B-5.)

Hourly and Weekly Earnings (Establishment Survey Data)

In February, average hourly earnings of production and nonsupervisory workers on private nonfarm payrolls rose by 3 cents, or 0.2 percent, seasonally adjusted. Over the past 12 months, average hourly earnings increased by 3.6 percent, and average weekly earnings rose by 2.1 percent. (See table B-3.)
______________________________

The Employment Situation for March 2009 is scheduled to be released on Friday, April 3, at 8:30 A.M. (EDT).