President Barack Obama's hopes for a bipartisan health deal seemed in jeopardy Thursday as GOP senators protested his renewed support for a new public health insurance plan.
Obama TV: Is Anti-Americanism Down on Muslim News Stations?
ABC's Lara Setrakian reports from Dubai: Watching President Obama’s speech from the newsroom of Al Arabiya, a pan-Arab broadcaster based in Dubai, raised the following question: is Arab news coverage less anti-American since Obama took office? Yes, say the journalists...
Joblessness: 9.4 pct, worst in 25 years
by Jim Tankersley
The U.S. economy shed 345,000 jobs in May, pushing the unemployment rate near double-digits and bringing the total number of jobs lost in the current recession to 6 million.
But the employment figures, which the Labor Department reported this morning, offer hope that the worst of the economic downturn could be over: The number of lost jobs was the lowest since September, and it was only half of the average monthly job losses in the last half-year.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the nationwide unemployment rate now stands at 9.4 percent, the worst it has been in more than 25 years. If workers abandoned their job searches or settled for part-time employment were factored in, the rate would have been 16.4 percent.
Manufacturing employment continued to drop sharply, led by 30,000 lost jobs related to the reeling domestic automobile industry. The Bureau reported auto-related jobs have fallen by 50 percent from their recent peak in 2000.
In contrast, construction and many service industries saw their losses slow. The leisure and hospitality industry posted no losses.
Wages remained essentially flat, the bureau reported.
Capitol Hill Republicans were quick to pounce on the numbers to criticize the Obama administration's economic policies.
"This is President Obama's economy now," Rep. Eric Cantor (R-Va.), the House Republican Whip, said in a statement. Later, he added: "As job losses continue to mount, families' worries about losing their healthcare, paying their mortgage, and sending their children to college continues to intensify."
Obama Uses Trip To Push For Guantanamo Help
President Obama says he has not asked German Chancellor Angela Merkel to make "hard commitments" on allowing terrorism suspects from the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to be transferred to Germany.
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