DailyViews: Editorial

A dim light is still a light

Maybe it’s not quite good news in the conventional sense, but Friday’s economic news was at least better than expected.

In April, the U.S. economy lost jobs for the fourth straight month, but employers did at least cut fewer positions than economists had expected. And while a 5 percent jobless rate still indicates serious strain on the labor market, that was still a better number than experts were looking for. Overall job losses in April were 20,000, well below the 81,000 payroll slashes in March, which was the second straight month of deeper than expected cuts.

The bottom line, which is something everyone is concerned with these days, seems to be that while things are still dicey economy-wise, it could be a lot worse.

Most of the jobs that were lost in April were in areas that would be expected in an economy that is having to deal with a nationwide housing slump and credit debacle, and nervous businesses who are reacting as equally nervous consumers pull back on purchasing. Construction companies got rid of 61,000 jobs, manufacturers released 46,000 workers and retails let 27,000 people go. But there were enough jobs gains in education, health care, professional and business services and government to more than make up for those reductions and drop the U.S. unemployment rate below March’s 5.1 percent.

Another piece of positive news was the Commerce Department’s report that orders to U.S. factories rose 1.4 percent in March. Not only was that a bigger gain than anyone was looking for, it came after two straight months of declines.

Meanwhile, the Federal Reserve annlunced Friday that this month it will boost the availability of short-term loans to commercial banks to $150 billion, a $50 billion increase from what it supplied in last month.

The idea is that the extra cash supply will encourage banks to keep lending money to customers.

At the gas pump, where consumers have felt the problems the most, prices dropped Friday for the firs time in over two weeks and some experts are suggesting that they may be close to peaking for the year. The national average for regular gas was $3.622 on Friday, and Oil Price Information Service officials guessed that it’ll top out at around $3.70.

“It could go up just a little bit more,” Fred Rozell, retail pricing director at the Oil Price Information Service said. “I think it’s running out of steam.”

And that’s just an opinion, but it’s the first time in a while anyone’s suggested not seeing $4 a gallon gas this summer.

No, the numbers we’re hearing for jobs, manufacturing, economic growth and the prices of food and gas aren’t anything to brag about. But compared to the way things have been spiraling downward in near freefall for the past few months, any dim light in a dark tunnel that doesn’t appear to be another oncoming locomotive has to be seen as something positive.

The Albany Herald Editorial Board

More DailyViews>>

THE ALBANY HERALD Founded by H.M. McIntosh, 1891 126 N. Washington St., P.O. Box 48, Albany, Ga. 31702 Michael J. Gebhart, Publisher Jim Hendricks, Editor Danny Carter, Managing Editor Michael Hill, Circulation Director Tami Abbott, Advertising Director Lynn Ridder, Operations Director Cheryl Frakes, Business Office Manager