One of the major trends in the US — and in New York state — that has pushed up unemployment during the recession is the much higher level of government lay-offs.<\/p>\n
That trend was visible in force through 2011, with government agencies at the local, state and Federal level squeezing out 280,000 jobs.<\/p>\n
But according to the latest jobs report, there were more modest government job cuts nationalwide in December 2011 — a drop of only about 12,000 additional positions.\u00a0 A sign of new stability?<\/p>\n
If so, it will be easier for even modest private sector growth to make a dent in the unemployment rate, which now stands at 8.5%, before the 2012 elections.<\/p>\n
But there are some big questions out there:\u00a0 If the US postal service moves forward with deep cuts, that could put a lot of people on the streets in the coming year.<\/p>\n
The Pentagon is also looking at reducing the number of active duty soldiers by roughly 80,000 service members, though the cuts will be phased in over several years.<\/p>\n
Stability at the state and local level, meanwhile, will be highly localized, as some regions of the country bounce back from the recession, while others remain mired in the housing crisis.<\/p>\n
It appears all but impossible that Washington will come forward with another support program for state and local agencies, as well as schools.<\/p>\n
That means the recovery will continue to have a lot of rough edges…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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