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recession

the nation’s employers added the fewest jobs in a year and the unemployment rate actually rose,

serious vulnerability for President Obama as he faces re-election

The unemployment rate rose to 8.2 percent in May from 8.1 in April, though largely because more people began looking for work.

another recession.

The report on American jobs added to the global pall that has deepened with Europe’s debt crisis and slowing growth in China and India.

Yields on United States and German government bonds also slumped as investors bid up the bonds’ prices looking for safety.

The underlying pace of the domestic economy is a slog, driven by manufacturing and restrained by slackening global demand.

“Manufacturers are very concerned about Europe because a blowup in Europe means a global slowdown,”

diverse,

Obama’s economic policies.

The May jobs report showed gains in health care, transportation and warehousing, and wholesale trade, while construction jobs fell by a seasonally adjusted 28,000. Even some bright spots, like booming auto sales, failed to meet expectations or to bolster manufacturing employment by much — only 12,000 jobs.

The number of people in work increased by 236,000 to 29.6 million, the largest quarterly rise for two years.

expected to remain unchanged at 65.2 per cent

15,500 to 11.501 million

THE unemployment rate is likely to spike in May as wea

ing global and economic conditions take their toll

on the jobs market.

weaken

the domestic economy, as well as global market instability

we had the mining boom which has now morphed into an investment boom

two exceptionally strong months of jobs growth, which just doesn't gel with all the anecdotes we've been hearing about layoff

he expected the participation rate to have risen,

but this would not have a negative impact on unemployment.

"We still think the labor market is quite strong and an unemployment rate of 5.1 per cent is close to the definition of full employment.

0.4% in first three months of this year, after shrinking by 0.3% in the final quarter of last year.

Spanish retail sales were down 3.7% in March from the same point a year ago, the 21st month in row sales have fallen.

The rate has risen sharply since April 2007, when it stood at 7.9%.

The new government has announced reforms to the labour market, including cutting back on severance pay and restricting i

nflation-linked salary increases, that it hopes will ease the problem.

The government has also introduced drastic spending cuts designed to reduce its debt levels and meet deficit targets agreed with the European Union. These cuts are contributing to Spain's economic contraction.

S&P predicts the Spanish economy will shrink by 1.5% this year, having previously forecast 0.3% growth.

"We believe that the new government has been front-loading and implementing a comprehensive set of structural reforms, which should support economic growth over the longer term," S&P said. "In particular, authorities have implemented a comprehensive reform of the Spanish labour market, which we believe could significantly reduce many of the existing structural rigidities and improve the flexibility in wage setting."

The yield on 10-year bonds rose to 5.96%, up from 5.81%, suggesting investors were becoming more wary of Spain's ability to repay its debts.

Government spending also fell

particularly large drop in military outlays.

Many economists pointed out that consumer spending, mostly on cars and other large items, seemed to have come at a cost. Consumer savings declined.

decline in business investment.

Businesses spent more on equipment and software but much less on infrastructure.

decline in investment in

construction related to mining, oil and gas

series of external shocks, like a spike in gas prices (this year’s was less severe and is already subsiding) and the Ja

panese earthquake.

where many countries are already in recession and where this week Britain announced that it had entered the dreaded “double dip.”

slowing of China’s breakneck

Shipments of durable goods increased last month, but new orders showed the steepest drop since January 2009.

unemployment benefits have risen.

German business confidence fell more than economists forecast in May,

consumer spending also rose more than projected last month, increasing 0.6 percent

"We doubt it will be enough to get the economy on the right track. It's only a matter of time before speculation begins as to when the Fed will raise its purchases from $40bn a month."

the central bank buys bonds to keep the long-term cost of borrowing down.

The unemployment rate in the US has been above 8% since January 2009, but the current 8.1% is down from the recent high of 10% in October 2009.

US presidential election.

Ben Bernanke also lowered the Fed's growth forecast for the US economy to 2% this year, down from the 2.4% it predicted in June

"The committee is concerned that, without further policy accommodation, economic growth might not be strong enough to generate sustained improvement in labour market conditions,

Federal Reserve to buy more debt to boost US economy

2.855 million from 2.963 million

Germany's economy grew by 0.5% in the first quarter of 2012

Earlier Thursday, Germany's statistics office reported a higher than expected rise in retail sales in April, which economists attributed in part to the robust labor market.

However, Germany's Bundesbank warned last week that the first-quarter growth figure likely overstates the country's trend pace. Germany's powerful industrial sector will only make "a relatively small contribution" to growth given the still falling demand from the euro zone, the central bank said. However, a significant growth contribution could come both from construction and consumption, it added.

The figures are terrible for everyone and terrible for the government

economy to shrink

fiscal

S&P predicts the Spanish economy will shrink by 1.5 per cent this year, having previously forecasted growth of 0.3 per cen

It added that Spain's commercial banks are increasingly leaning to official sources for funds as they struggle to deal with piles of bad loans, especially in real estate.

1.9 percent in the first quarter, instead of the 2.2 percent pace initially estimated last month.

Fresh jobs indicators for May on Thursday suggested that second-quarter economic conditions would do little to spur recovery in the sick labor market.