Posted on January - 15 - 2012
Unemployment Falls to 8.5 Percent but that May Be as Good as It Gets!
College Park, MD – The economy added 200,000 jobs in December, and the unemployment rate fell to 8.5 percent. Going forward unemployment is not likely to fall much further and may rise again.
Fourth quarter growth was exceptionally strong as the global economy recovered from first half disruptions such as the earthquake in Japan, but going forward economists expect growth to slow to about 2 percent.
Job growth in the range of 130,000 should be expected to accommodate labor force growth but not much lower the unemployment rate. That is hardly a pace that will restore economic health, or validate President Obama’s heavy intervention in the economy and industrial policies in the upcoming Presidential campaign.
The unemployment rate would be higher but for the fact that many unemployed professionals have established home-based businesses that really don’t provide full time employment but do take workers off the unemployment rolls.
Also, many adults have quit looking for work altogether, and the adult labor force participation rate remains depressed. In D