Recession's mounting toll

[DainBramaged]

COMING AMID Wall Street's spectacular financial meltdown, the late summer spike in unemployment around the country--reaching near 20-year highs in some places--was relegated to back-page news.

In August, there was a net loss of 33,000 private-sector jobs nationwide--and expectations for September employment numbers, due out today, certainly weren't more optimistic.

The August job loss was led by a decline of 78,000 manufacturing jobs--despite an increase in U.S. manufacturing exports caused by the decline of the dollar relative to other currencies. National unemployment rose to 6.1 percent in August--compared to 4.7 percent a year ago--and several states and cities reported 15- to 20-year highs in jobless rates.

Even if the proposed $700 billion bailout for Wall Street banks goes through, unemployment will continue to rise. As Barron's put it, "Bank capital will likely remain scarce, businesses will find it tougher to get financing at the same time that demand for their wares fades, and consumers are coming under the twin pressures of rising unemployment and falling wages, just as their net worths are declining and their ability to borrow is being crimped."

In other words, even if financial markets are stabilized, the "real economy" is already choking and gasping for air. Workers--already hard hit by lower wages, housing depreciation and foreclosures, and rising food and fuel costs--simply can't make ends meet. In these circumstances, losing a job can be disastrous for workers and their families.

http://socialistworker.org/2008/10/03/recessions-mounting-toll