The Space Shuttle Challenger had just made it into orbit for the first time.
Michael Jackson’s Beat It was rising up the Billboard charts, and would hit No. 1 by the end of the month.
Harold Washington was elected as the first black Mayor of Chicago.
And unemployment was at 10.2% just as it is today:
The United States economy shed 190,000 jobs in October, and the unemployment rate reached a 26-year high of 10.2 percent, up from 9.8 percent in September, the Department of Labor said Friday in its monthly economic appraisal.
While the pace of the job losses has slowed significantly since the peak of the recession last winter, the unemployment rate, which measures the number of people actively seeking work, continues to climb, and economists do not foresee relief until well into next year.
“There’s no doubt that the slashing and burning of jobs has abated quite a lot,” said Allen L. Sinai, the founder of Decision Economics, a research firm. “The economy is recovering, but it is a very soft recovery.”
The agency also revised September’s losses to 219,000 from 263,000.
Dean Baker, a director for the Center for Economic and Policy Research, said he did not expect declining unemployment rates until next spring. “We may be looking at very high levels,” Mr. Baker said, “barring a policy response, for several years into the future.”
The dissonance of economic renewal, with steep job losses coming even as production intensifies and companies show better-than-expected profits, has placed policy makers in a delicate position.
On Thursday, in anticipation of the unemployment report, Congress overwhelmingly extended benefits for jobless workers for up to 20 weeks. That will soothe the short-term financial pain of many families, but demands for a new wave of government relief may intensify if companies continue to cut back.
So far, the federal stimulus package has injected billions into local economies, giving states money, for instance, to finance construction projects or retain teachers. The housing and auto sectors have been propped up with government credits meant to encourage spending. But weak consumer demand and hefty labor costs are still forcing many employers to slash positions and reduce hours to survive.
The recession has forced many Americans to settle for part-time work because companies are reluctant to add full-time employees. The underemployment rate, which includes part-time workers, the jobless, and those who have given up on searching, was 17.5 percent in October — the highest level since at least 1994.
Ouch.
November 6th, 2009 at 9:06 am
And in April 1983 double-digit inflation was being flushed out of the system, ordinary citizens were looking forward to 25 percent reduction in personal income tax rates, and regulatory overreaching was being wrenched out of the system.
Now we have fiscal and monetary policy that’s aimed at reflating the economy, a bill that will be passed in the House that increases taxes on the order of a trillion dollars to fund a massive government takeover of healthcare, and the nanny-state is spreading its tentacles into every corner of our economy.
What do we have to look forward to now?
November 6th, 2009 at 11:57 am
Looks like a repeat of the Great Depression to me. Government stimulus that doesn’t work and a decade of double digit unemployment. Buckle in. Get our of debt.
I was watching this morning the precious metals market in real time with the widget ExactPrice ( http://www.learcapital.com/exactprice )and as the numbers came out gold broke over $1100.00 for the first time. It’s going to be interesting, that is for sure.
November 6th, 2009 at 12:57 pm
how is that “hope and change ” working for you
open your eyes Americans ,lets send Obama back to civil life
in 2o12