Jobless Rate Hits 8.5%

U.S. employers shed 663,000 jobs in March, pushing the nation's unemployment rate to its highest level since 1983 and casting a shadow over recent signs of a stabilizing economy.

The deepening labor-market contraction brought job losses for the recession to 5.1 million, with two-thirds of the cuts coming since November, the Labor Department said. The jobless rate jumped to 8.5% from 8.1% -- and many forecasters expect it to top 10% by later this year.

The downturn, which started in December 2007, appears to be on track to surpass the two longest recessions since the Great Depression. U.S. officials are counting on the government's fiscal-stimulus package to start kicking in by the second half of the year. A sharp drawdown in business inventories is likely to force a rebound in production in the coming months, some economists believe, halting the economic contraction in the second half of the year and setting the stage for growth.

The jobs report came after several weeks of economic data offered some positive signs for the economy. Stronger housing demand and a rebound in consumer spending after sharp declines since the fall fueled some hope that the economy may be approaching its bottom.

Economists generally expect job losses to continue through most of the year, with a firmer recovery starting in early 2010. Friday's job report showed that every sector of the economy shed jobs, except for health care.

The Wall Street Journal April 2009

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Disney cuts 1,900 us jobs at theme parks

The Walt Disney Co. said Friday it had cut 1,900 positions at its U.S. theme parks as part of an earlier announced reorganization, representing about 11 percent of salaried employees in the division.

Some 1,200 people were laid off and 700 open positions will be left unfilled in the second phase of a reorganization begun in 2005 that was accelerated by the recession.

"These decisions were not made lightly, but are essential to maintaining our leadership in family tourism and reflect today's economic realities," said Disney spokeswoman Tasia Filippatos in a statement.

The latest reorganization, designed to further unify two units operating separately at parks in Orlando, Florida, and Anaheim, California, was announced in February, but new leadership put in place took time to determine what cutbacks were necessary.

The vast majority of the cuts came from managerial and other salaried staff, not from employees in the parks who interact with park visitors. Some further reductions are planned.

Disney shares, which fell 21 cents, or 1 percent, to close at $20, gained 13 cents in after-hours trading.

Business Week April 2009

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The grim outlook for Europe

Europe’s economy faces a deeper recession and a slower recovery than the U.S. or other world regions. As a result, the European Union is becoming the region that is most hurting prospects for an early end to the global economic slump.

The EU’s economy is set to contract 4% this year and an additional 0.3% next year, according to new forecasts published Wednesday by the International Monetary Fund. That’s even worse than the outlook for the U.S. economy, which the IMF says will shrink 2.8% this year and stagnate in 2010.

Mounting expected losses have exposed European banks’ weakness, and policy makers are struggling to come up with an aggressive response to the crisis. The worsening outlook for the 27-nation EU is a blow for many of the region’s governments, who have argued that the U.S. is the center of the global economic storm and that Europe’s problems are smaller. Because of that, plus fear of rising inflation and public debt, authorities in the euro zone have been slower than those in the U.S. or leading Asian economies to cut interest rates or adopt ambitious fiscal-stimulus measures.

Some business surveys and economic data suggest the pace of Europe’s contraction might be easing. But signs of a recovery in coming months appear weaker than in other regions, such as Asia and the U.S., where economists say more aggressive government efforts to revive activity through fiscal-stimulus packages and central-bank activism are starting to show some effects.

The Wall Street Journal April 2009

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