英伦广角 2009-09-06 美国失业率26年最高点（在线收听）

Despite signs that the near 2-year US recession may be over, Americans are still finding it hard to get a job. The closely watched unemployment rate soared more than expected to 9.7% in the month of August, a 26-year high, according to the Labor Department. Job seekers were actually lured back into the jobs market after the surprise drop in the unemployment rate the month before, says John Lonski, chief economist at Moody’s.

Yeah, during the early month of an economic recovery, we find that more individuals are drawn into the labor force, but they don’t find jobs right away. So they are included among the unemployed automatically and that has the effect of lending an upward bias to the unemployment rate.

Although jobs were hard to come by last month, these are signs the labor market is getting better. The US economy lost fewer than expected 216,000 jobs last month, the smallest job cuts in a year, but July’s numbers were upwardly revised. Since the start of the recession, the US economy has shed 6.9 million jobs.

Labor secretary Hilda Solis says the White House will continue its efforts to soften the blow.

We’re gonna stay steady, and we’re gonna try to help to those people that have lost jobs, those people that are in part-time jobs that want to look for full-time, and also help people getting to training programs and now is the time to do that to invest in themselves.

But with the unemployment rate headed towards 10%, economists worry consumers may cut back spending in fear, making it harder for the economy to regain its footing.

Conway Gittens, Reuters.