HispanicBusiness

Labor Day celebrations in the United States took place against a rather bleak background. Six months after the approval of the economic reactivation plan, the economy is starting to move upwards, but employment is lagging behind.

True, unemployment figures for August, released over the weekend by the Labor Department, revealed a decreasing trend in nonfarm payrolls. Job losses in August decreased to 216,000, from 276,000 in July, but the unemployment rate increased to 9.7 percent, from 9.4 percent in July, the highest rate since 1983.

With the exception of health services, which registered an increase of 28,000 jobs, in August, all the other sectors lost jobs. Manufacturing with 63,000 and construction with 65,000 accounted for more than half of all job losses.

Additionally, minorities were among the hardest hit. In August, the unemployment rate among African Americans increased to 15 percent and to 13 percent among Hispanics. However, the highest rate was 25.5 percent among teenagers, 16 to 19 years old entering the labor force.

Vice President Joseph Biden, in a speech at the Brookings Institution before the unemployment figures were released, said the economic reactivation plan was changing the trajectory of the economy. He said, "instead of talking about the beginning of a depression, we are talking about the end of a recession." The top economic adviser to Vice President Biden followed up, saying, "we are headed in the right direction, but we are far from out of the woods."


Isaac Cohen is the former director of the Washington Office of the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC). He is a commentator on economic and financial issues for CNN en Espanol TV and radio.