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Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: rich4eagle who wrote (288855)	8/21/2002 1:07:52 PM
From: Neocon	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 769670

OK, haven't gotten around to it. My sinuses were acting up, so I tried to feel better when I might have read the paper....

To: rich4eagle who wrote (288855)	8/21/2002 1:17:41 PM
From: Neocon	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 769670

....The job losses were disproportionately concentrated in Washington's Maryland suburbs and Northern Virginia, according to an analysis of the data by MBG Information Services. The District, meanwhile, gained 700 jobs. Nationally, employment was virtually unchanged in July. While economists caution that the monthly data can be volatile and misleading, they said the July results indicate that businesses in a wide range of industries are still not hiring in significant numbers, and government employment hasn't picked up the slack. Indeed, in Maryland, preliminary numbers showed that governments shed more jobs than any other category of employer in July, although economists said that may not turn out to be true when the data are revised. And William F. Mezger, chief economist of the Virginia Employment Commission, said the state has gotten an economic boost from defense spending but the gains have been seen in the Hampton Roads area rather than the Washington suburbs. "It's not that new jobs aren't being created," said Charles McMillion, chief economist at MBG Information Services. "It's just that more jobs are being lost than are being created." It could add up to a tough situation for job seekers for many months to come. "Businesses and individuals need to be realistic that this economy is not recession-proof," McMillion said. "It may be some time before we actually start adding net new jobs again." The collapse of technology businesses such as WorldCom Inc., which has laid off thousands of workers in the area, accounts for many of the job losses, according to people who study the region, but the economic turmoil is increasingly broad. Some of the steepest job losses in July were in transportation and public utilities, which include workers in two of the hardest-hit industries in this recession -- telecommunications and airlines. The District, Maryland and Virginia shed a combined 3,800 jobs in July in that category. Construction employment, which exploded during the building boom that ended in 2000, dropped by 2,500 in the three jurisdictions -- and economists warn that it could fall even more sharply if the strong market for housing cools appreciably. And the service category, a broad employment classification that includes workers as varied as accountants and waiters, shed 5,700 jobs in the three jurisdictions in July. Driving it all, economists say, is an extremely cautious business environment, in which a slumping stock market, a wave of corporate scandals and tepid demand have made firms reluctant to buy new equipment or hire new workers. "Corporate America remains in a cost-cutting mode," said Mark Vitner, a senior economist at Wachovia Corp. who tracks the Washington region. "In that type of environment, we're just not likely to see strong employment gains." Companies have tried to increase profits in recent months by cutting expenses -- through layoffs and other actions -- rather than trying to increase revenue by hiring new employees, Vitner said. "The economy is just not strong enough to generate new opportunities for profits." And that tight-fisted approach ripples through the economy. Cautious corporate spending is the reason for hard times at local companies as varied as U.S. Airways, business-software seller Manugistics Group Inc. and innumerable smaller firms. For example, Rand Construction Corp. in Arlington builds office interiors and has seen many would-be customers delay decisions on renovation projects. "One quarter it's 'We're cautiously optimistic,' and the next quarter it's 'We're just cautious,' " said President Linda D. Rabbitt, describing the attitude of corporate clients. "People are making decisions at the last feasible moment." One of the key areas of strength in the local economy has been in industries tied to consumers: People have largely kept buying new cars and houses. Economists generally argue that employment will pick up in earnest by the start of 2003 -- as long as consumers keep up their buying ways. Some worry they won't. "Consumers are dealing with a jobless recovery, have big losses in their 401(k)s and have record levels of debt," McMillion said. "I think that consumers are likely to start cutting back in spending to save a little more and pay down debt. You can only buy so many new cars." Even as the region loses jobs, the unemployment rate has been steady, according to yesterday's report, perhaps helping explain why those new cars keep getting bought. In the District, unemployment fell to 6 percent in July from 6.3 percent in June; in Maryland it was unchanged at 4.2 percent; and in Virginia it rose to 4 percent from 3.8 percent. washingtonpost.com