Unemployment and True Economic Recovery

Experts believe the recession is over, however the question of when businesses start hiring again is still unknown.

Projections on job creation

Many Americans are looking towards the day when jobs are plentiful. Ever since the beginning of the recession employers were required to drastically cut their workforce to chop down expenses. Citizens were laid off, hours were cut and salaries were cut. Nevertheless , there are signs the economy is on the rise, job creation still hasn't shown steady indications of improving and that’s concerning legislators.

Economists for the White House are predicting that in spring of 2010 businesses will commence creating permanent careers. President Obama is making job creation a main concern on his list of things to do and trying to encourage employers to start by hiring. There’s a myriad of tax breaks coming to businesses that are aggressive with hiring and job creation for the coming 2010 tax year.

The public’s perspective

The President and White House economists know that taxpayers are most concerned with the career market. Specially those who were hurt by layoffs and downsizing are searching for hefty signs of improvement. Legislators understand that this is a prime concern and it needs to be a priority for them with the 2010 congressional elections coming up. The first signs of good news will be the better-than projected employment record for November of 2009. For the first time in months the jobless rate declined. Lawrence Summers, director of White House National Economic Council said, "I believe that, as do most professional forecasters, by spring, employment growth will start to be turning positive."

November was a good month for analysts who are closely watching jobs. Not only did the jobless rate reduce, but the pace of job losses slowed down also. It showed a major improvement from numbers studied earlier in the year.

Before Americans rejoice

Americans are cautioned, nevertheless, to not read the immediate signs as indicators that change can happen quickly. The fact is that, most economists are projecting tangible improvements to be visible no sooner than mid-2010. Christina Romer, chairwoman of the White House Council of Economic Advisors, said, "There could be job increases as soon as the first quarter of 2010, but even if payrolls begin to grow, the unemployment rate could go up and down again, before it stabilizes." She added, "The numbers certainly will bounce around. I would anticipate some bumps in the road as we go ahead."

President Obama's call to banks

There’s a problem for the President regarding jobs. Democrats are driving hard for Congress to back an aggressive job-creation strategy that would improve infrastructure spending and send more assistance to cities and states. Summers said, "For next year or two, priority number one-certainly this year-priority number one has to be job creation." President Obama met with top executives from 12 US banks to go over regulatory reform proposals and how to boost lending to small business owners. His objective would be to empower businesses with funding so they in turn, can begin to create permanent full-time job opportunities. The President said, "(Banks) have obligations to the country to restart lending after gaining from the government's $700 billion bailout of the financial industry."

The future of employment

No one knows how quickly businesses will start hiring, or if the tax initiatives will work. Although most analysts believe the recession has ended, there is still a question of how healthy small businesses are and if they can handle the strain of new employees yet. Despite the difficulties, they may have to create solutions. Romer added, "What the President has always said, I firmly believe: you are not recovered until all those people that want to work are back to work."