Friday, November 06, 2009

Unemployment Hits 10.2%

The last time unemployment was this high, I was a sophomore in college, editor of my junior college newspaper, wearing pink oxford shirts and pipestem jeans.

The jump into the realm of double-digit joblessness — from 9.8 percent in September — provided a sobering reminder that, despite the apparent end of the Great Recession, economic expansion has yet to translate into jobs, leaving tens of millions of people still struggling.

“The guy on the street is going to ask, ‘What recovery?’ ” said Stuart G. Hoffman, chief economist at the PNC Financial Services Group in Pittsburgh. “The job market is still in reverse.”

Until the unemployment rate starts going down significantly, it won't matter to average Americans what the GDP is. For them, we'll still be in a recession and Democrats will pay the price for the Obama recession.