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As economy drops jobs, paychecks drop some weight
Jul 2, 5:29 PM (ET)
By JEANNINE AVERSA
WASHINGTON (AP) - Americans lucky enough to still have a job are noticing something unpleasant in their paychecks: They're making less money.
Employers cut 467,000 jobs in June, far more than expected, and the jobless rate hit a 26-year high of 9.5 percent. Just as worrisome, wages shrank to their lowest in nearly a year.
The bleak news Thursday from the Labor Department underscored one of the big threats to an economic turnaround: Rising joblessness and falling wages for those still working could send Americans back into spending hibernation and short-circuit any recovery.
President Barack Obama acknowledged concern. "What we're still seeing is too many jobs lost, too many families who are worried about whether they're going to be next in terms of job loss, or whether they can find another," he told The Associated Press.
The falling wages come from furloughs, pay freezes and pay cuts imposed by employers across the country. Many also have cut hours: The average work week in June fell to 33 hours, the lowest on records dating to 1964.
Nathan Bieber, 26, who works at Einstein Bros. Bagels in Phoenix, works 28 to 30 hours a week now, down from his previous 37 - a loss of up to $100 weekly. He's canceled his Internet service and deferred payments on student loans six times.
His wife, who is legally blind and works at another Einstein Bros. location, has had her hours slashed from 30 to 15. They rely on her disability pay for rent and the electric bill.
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20090702/D996ID803.html
Jul 2, 5:29 PM (ET)
By JEANNINE AVERSA
WASHINGTON (AP) - Americans lucky enough to still have a job are noticing something unpleasant in their paychecks: They're making less money.
Employers cut 467,000 jobs in June, far more than expected, and the jobless rate hit a 26-year high of 9.5 percent. Just as worrisome, wages shrank to their lowest in nearly a year.
The bleak news Thursday from the Labor Department underscored one of the big threats to an economic turnaround: Rising joblessness and falling wages for those still working could send Americans back into spending hibernation and short-circuit any recovery.
President Barack Obama acknowledged concern. "What we're still seeing is too many jobs lost, too many families who are worried about whether they're going to be next in terms of job loss, or whether they can find another," he told The Associated Press.
The falling wages come from furloughs, pay freezes and pay cuts imposed by employers across the country. Many also have cut hours: The average work week in June fell to 33 hours, the lowest on records dating to 1964.
Nathan Bieber, 26, who works at Einstein Bros. Bagels in Phoenix, works 28 to 30 hours a week now, down from his previous 37 - a loss of up to $100 weekly. He's canceled his Internet service and deferred payments on student loans six times.
His wife, who is legally blind and works at another Einstein Bros. location, has had her hours slashed from 30 to 15. They rely on her disability pay for rent and the electric bill.
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20090702/D996ID803.html