Friday, October 03, 2008

The American Economy Lost 159,000 Jobs in September

Employment dropped by 159,000 Jobs in September. The unemployment rate is still at a recession level 6.1%.

Among the good news, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Wichita's unemployment rate was a percent and a half lower than the national average in August. There was evidence in the national report to that that should continue. Employment in aerospace manufacturing was up.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

I think Wichita is one of the best locations for finding jobs not just in the state but also in the country. It seems Wichita is expanding and building wether its the new arena in downtown to the building of the highway. There is a large need for teachers in this area who are always looking to hire. Also Boeing, Beechcraft and Koch Industries are 3 large business in Wichita that are always looking for employees. Having 3 colleges all at the different levels NCAA1 NCAA2 and NAIA has made it an attractive location for college aged people to live. This could help lower the overall average ago of this city as Wichita tries to keep these colleges students living in Wichita after college for jobs.

Anonymous said...

Yea, the unemployment in Aerospace now...well now it went up. So, this was done 2 months ago i wonder how close to the average Wichita is now. Obviously the market has a tremendous impact on our Aerospace layoffs. I just wonder if the first quarter of '09 will be high in unemployment, only time will tell.

Alex Moseley said...

I am very suprised that even though 159,000 jobs have been cut, that the aerospace industry in wichita is actually up. However, Wichita does tend to have a good unemployment ratios with low turnover numbers, so the fact that it is lower than the national average is not overall suprising. People here are able to keep jobs due to good education from people like Dr. Harris

Anonymous said...

Companies like Boeing, Hawker, and Spirit, all in the aerospace industry help Wichita's unemployment rate because they offer many different types of job to the community. Koch Industries also employs lots of people in the Wichita area. Without companies like these, Wichita's unemployment rate would be closer to the national percentage.

Anonymous said...

Dr. Harris, this post only backs up your theory about how long we have been in a recession.
It is now the beginning of December, and companies are not hiring mass numbers of employees. Instead, they are making plans of mass layoffs for the end of this year, and the beginning of 2009. When will we see a change in this trend? I'm not sure anyone knows. As someone who will be out in the workforce in less than a year, these numbers and the numbers of employees that are being laid off not only in wichita, but all over the U.S., are concerning to me.

TaDonne' said...

This year I got to witness actual job protests taken place outside Boeing Aircraft company, and it brought a sense of reality to the failing job markets in the economy today. I only hope the economy is changing for the better when I start to job hunt.

Abby Sorensen said...

Do you think the jobs are going to keep dropping? It makes it difficult to decide what you want to do or where you want to live when the job market is so slim. I am getting ready to graduate and start looking for jobs but the jobs that are available basically set you up to fail since no body will want to buy your product or they will eventually lay you off. I hope this gets turned around soon.

Anonymous said...

With me potentially graduating at the end of this year and hopefully joing the job force throughout america, this scares me. This recession is hitting the US hard and is going to hit the students coming out of college looking for stable and beneficial jobs hard. Many companies are planning on laying off mass numbers of people instead of hiring them. This recession needs to end, for my benefit and the US population. The government needs to figure something out, if possible, to battle with these trends.