• Most Popular
  • Most Shared

Obama expects "sobering" unemployment figures

WASHINGTON
Mon Jan 5, 2009 4:24pm EST
A job seeker fills out an application at a job fair organized by the New Hampshire Employment Security agency in Salem, New Hampshire December 17, 2008. REUTERS/Brian Snyder

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President-elect Barack Obama said on Monday he expected "sobering" unemployment figures at the end of this week as he went to Capitol Hill to campaign for his economic stimulus package.

Barack Obama

"The reason we're here today is because the people's business can't wait," Obama told reporters at a photo opportunity with House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi. "We've got an extraordinary economic challenge ahead of us, we're expecting a sobering job report at the end of the week."

The Labor Department will release its December employment report on Friday at 8:30 a.m. EST. According to a Reuters poll, economists are expecting payroll jobs to drop 500,000, bringing job losses for all 2008 to about 2.5 million.

(Reporting by Jeremy Pelofsky, Editing by Sandra Maler)
Barack Obama


More from Reuters

This heart-wrenching picture of a mother and child at an an emergency feeding centre in in Tahoua, Niger, won international acclaim for incorporating beauty, horror and despair. Taken on August 1, 2005 by Finbarr O'Reilly.

Pictures of the Decade

    Pictures
    A customer is served at a counter inside a foreign exchange store displaying a poster of various banknotes including the Chinese yuan or renminbi (RMB) in Hong Kong November 20, 2009. REUTERS/Bobby Yip
    OUTLOOK 2010:

    Be careful what you wish for

    Pressure on China to loosen its grip on the yuan will continue but the U.S. should tread carefully. Here are five world market issues to watch.  Full Article 

    Global Markets
    Aurora, a 20-year-old Beluga whale, swims with her newborn calf after giving birth at the Vancouver Aquarium in Vancouver, British Columbia June 7, 2009. REUTERS/Andy Clark

    365 days for the doomed

    From polar bears to emperor penguins, endangered species will get top online billing in 2010 during the Year of Biodiversity.  Full Article 

    Green Business