US job losses fell to their lowest level in a year last month, but the unemployment rate jumped to a 26-year high, painting a mixed picture of an economic recovery hindered by weakness in the labour market.

Despite the US economy showing indications of recovery, the global job market remains gloomy, with companies laying of at least 27 employees every hour to cut costs.

With companies continuing to reduce their headcount in their efforts to tackle the downturn, around 13,000 jobs have been slashed so far in September by some of the leading global firms, most of them headquartered in the USA.

Job losses of about 12,900 have been witnessed in just 20 days of this month, translating into an average of 645 people being laid off per day. In turn, the toll comes to at least 27 people losing jobs per hour.

The lay-offs are happening across almost all the sectors from pharma to software to refinery, among others.

Most of the job cuts happened in the United States, which has already seen a staggering 5,50,000 Americans filing for unemployment benefits in the first week of September.

— The Statesman, September 21

US job losses fell to their lowest level in a year last month, but the unemployment rate jumped to a 26-year high, painting a mixed picture of an economic recovery hindered by weakness in the labour market.

The Labour Department said on September 4, the jobless rate climbed to 9.7 per cent in August, the highest since June 1983. The bigger than expected rise suggested weak consumer spending would impeded recovery from the worst slump in seven decades.

Employers cut 216,000 jobs, the smallest since August 2008, but the department revised upward the June and July job losses by 49,000…..

Analysts had expected non-farm employers to cut 225,000 workers from their payrolls in August and had looked from the unemployment rate to rise to 9.5 per cent after dipping to 9.4 per cent in July…..

A Reuters survey showed most big banks that do business directly with the Federal Reserve expect the jobless rate to peak by the first quarter of 2010….

— The Economic Times, September 6