United States Economy and Job Gains

he unemployment rate in the United States dropped from 8.2 percent to 8.1 percent over the span of a month. And, while some would think that this was an improvement, the reason the unemployment percentage actually fell is because many people have officially stopped looking for work, unable to find employment after searching for quite some time. Nearly 350,000 individuals have left the labor force, which is why the unemployment rate has declined. The information was released by the United States Labor Department.

A senior economist, Ryan Sweet, said that the unemployment rate is dropping but not for good reasons at all. In general, it would be idea for the unemployment rate to drop as more people find employment. However, this is not the scenario, as people are finding it hard to find work and are simply leaving the workforce altogether. Another reason for a decline is because those extended unemployment benefits have ended as well. According to economists, the United States was supposed to add roughly 163,000 jobs during the month of April. The job growth is significantly lower than it had been throughout the months of December, January, and February. This shows that some businesses may have slowed down on the hiring process; worried that the economy is not doing as good as they may have once hoped for. More jobs were made available throughout the winter, which helped many people find employment during that time.

Some economists think that because the winter was rather warm, warmer than it usually is and some of the hiring and jobs available during the spring were actually made available a bit earlier, during the winter months. However, economists still worry that the recovery might not be going as smoothly as planned. Economic turmoil in other areas around the world, including Europe and China, may have contributed to the slowing down of the recovery for the United States.

And, while this is not necessarily positive news, there were some good points. Job growth during the months of March and February were actually higher than expected, which is always good news. Initially, it was expected that 120,000 jobs would be made available during the month of March but instead, the number of jobs available was at 154,000.

Republicans, however, are quick to blame the White House for the slow recover, especially since the recession began in 2007 and ended in 2009, just about three years ago. With the upcoming election during November of 2012, Republicans have made sure that the economy is a main subject, arguing that the President of the United States, Barack Obama, has not done all in his power to help this recovery go over smooth, stating that much progress has not been made.