Superstorm Sandy can’t dampen U.S. jobs growth
Jobs, jobs, jobs.
That’s the main talking point for this edition of the Weekly Wrap, but our guests this week have some other topics worthy of discussion, too.
Heidi Moore is the U.S. finance and economics editor for the Guardian. For the weekend, she suggests the following reads:
- Bloomberg BusinessWeek’s interview with Tim Cook
- The amazing New York Times story about the wild ride of John McAfee
- And in Salon, Alex Pareene’s take on how Simpson-Bowles has become, weirdly, the answer to everything — even though no one really understands it
And CNBC senior editor John Carney‘s picks:
- The Scientific American’s blog The Primate Diaries on fairness in animal behavior
- Dealbreaker’s look at what’s been going on at Deutsche Bank
- The New York Times article on hedge fund billionaire Steven A. Cohen’s absence from Art Basel
As for the jobs news this week, Moore says the drop in the jobless rate to 7.7 percent in November isn’t as good as it seems.
“It is down from last month’s 7.9 percent, but really the reason it’s lower is because there are fewer people in the workforce,” says Moore. “It just means that people are dropping out, and that’s ultimately the problem. We still have 12 million people who are unemployed, and if we keep looking at those top-line percentage numbers, we’re not really acknowledging what they’re going through.”
Carney, however, remains optimistic.
“I think we’re in the 33rd month since we started rebuilding jobs and we’re doing very well at it — not as well as we need to be doing and it’s going to take a long time before we get to a normal employment rate — but it’s a sign of a healthy economy that we’re still are creating these jobs despite Hurricane Sandy, despite all the trouble that we see coming out of Washington,” says Carney. “I think it is cause for celebration.”
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