"Services sector grows - barely; Retailers, others struggling amid high joblessness" by Globe Wire Services | February 4, 2010
Yeah, but sales are up, blah, blah, blah!!!!
Sigh!
WASHINGTON - Service industries expanded less than anticipated in January, a sign the recovery will be slow to spread from manufacturing to the rest of the economy....
If we have one at all.
Unemployment close to a 26-year high may restrain growth, however, as Americans limit spending....
Robert Mellman, an economist at JPMorgan Chase & Co. in New York. Employment “will gradually get better. Profits had another strong quarter and margins are going up. Businesses are very, very lean and they’ll be hiring soon.’’
Yeah, sure.
Companies cut an estimated 22,000 jobs in January, the smallest drop in two years, data from ADP Employer Services show. The report doesn’t take into account government hiring.
Related: The Real Job Loss Number Was 255,000
The report on services showed four industries, including utilities and wholesalers, grew last month, while 11 contracted. Entertainment, mining, and retail companies were among those shrinking in January.
The economy probably created more jobs than it lost last month, economists project a Labor Department report will show.
WRONG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Retailers are among the companies still cutting jobs. Home Depot Inc. last week began eliminating 1,000 positions after sales at older stores fell 6.9 percent in the quarter ended Nov. 1. Yesterday, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. said it is cutting 300 headquarters jobs; it has eliminated almost 14,000 jobs in the past 13 months.
Yeah, that'll help the unemployment rate around here.
The economy grew at a 5.7 percent annual pace in the fourth quarter, the government reported last week.
It was the second quarter of growth following a yearlong contraction that marked the deepest recession since the 1930s.
Yeah, sure it was, government!
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