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To: Sharp_End_Of_Drill who wrote (88522)	3/12/2001 12:49:57 AM
From: rajaggs	Respond to of 95453

Sharp end, From the Daily Herald in Chicago. >> Saturday March 10 08:51 AM EST Employment grows by leaps in February By Daily Herald staff and news service reports Despite the daily drumbeat of manufacturing layoffs - Cisco Systems announced Friday it is cutting 5,000 jobs - employment continued to grow at a rapid pace in February, the Department of Labor reported Friday. The nation's unemployment rate held steady at 4.2 percent as 135,000 more jobs were created, leaving some analysts wondering if the worst of the economic slowdown was over. The jobs increase was twice what was expected. "People should feel better when they hear this," said Diane Swonk, chief economist for Bank One Corp. in Chicago. The numbers mean that demand for workers still is outpacing supply and that's good news, she said. Still, there was another big drop in factory jobs, and the Bush administration said anew that Congress must pass the president's tax plan to deal with continuing dangers of recession. Much of the job gain came from the services industries, including retailers and health-care providers. Construction companies, transportation businesses and utilities also added workers. But manufacturers shed 94,000 workers last month, bringing the total loss of factory jobs to 371,000 since June. The National Association of Manufacturers urged Congress to quickly pass Bush's tax plan, calling the report "another big blow to an already troubled manufacturing sector." Friday's report "depicts a picture-perfect soft landing - not a crash landing so widely feared," said Richard DeKaser, chief economist with National City Corporation. "Still, the economy remains soft and recent layoff announcements should dampen hopes of a sharp, V-shaped recovery very soon," he added. The unemployment rate had dropped to a 30-year low of 3.9 percent during three months in 2000. But with the slowdown, economists are expecting the rate to rise in coming months, peaking at around 4.5 percent. << It may come to pass that more than the tech and manufacturing sectors will be affected but right now, the slowdown seems to be generally restricted to these sectors. One large, heavily discounted sale of over production of last 6 months, will put paid to any threat of a severe recession, IMHO. 4.5% unemployment, if that materializes, is hardly indicative of a severe recession and 3.9% (a 30 year low) unemployment is evidence that we are NOT yet in a recession. During the Reagan inspired recession of 19881/82, the unemployment rate rose to TWICE that 4.5% number. 'jaggs