Your Economic Picture
The August unemployment rate is out. The new rate is 9.7 percent. That’s up from 9.4 percent last month, and is a little higher than what economists predicted. Most economists are saying the recession is waning, but try saying that to the more than half a million laid-off workers applying for benefits. New numbers out Thursday showed a slight improvement in jobless claims from the week before, but it’s still far higher than the 350,000 claims that economists say is a sign of a healthy labor market.
We’re looking at the economic picture of ordinary people. We’ll crunch the big numbers with Catherine Rampell, editor of the New York Times Economix blog. But we’ll also speak to three people struggling to find a job or hold onto the one they already have: Cliff Hagedon, owner of Fort Gratiot Express trucking; Francine Morin, an unemployed health care program coordinator; and Liz Gold, who manages a social networking site called MomsLikeMe.com for mothers in Tampa, Florida.
The story you just read is available to read for free because thousands of listeners and readers like you generously support our nonprofit newsroom. Every day, the reporters and producers at The World are hard at work bringing you human-centered news from across the globe. But we can’t do it without you: We need your support to ensure we can continue this work for another year.
When you make a gift of $10 or more a month, we’ll invite you to a virtual behind-the-scenes tour of our newsroom to thank you for being with The World.