CBPP Statement: Chad Stone, Chief Economist, on the Labor Department's December Unemployment Report

Publication Date: January 2008

Publisher: Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (Washington, D.C.)

Author(s): Chad Stone

Research Area: Economics; Labor

Keywords: Economic projections; Unemployment rate; Job displacement

Type: Report

Abstract:

Employers expanded their payrolls by a meager 18,000 jobs in December, private payrolls actually shrank by 13,000 jobs, and the unemployment rate rose from 4.7 to 5.0 percent. These data are very disappointing, but even so they do not mean that the economy is currently in recession, and Congress should not rush to judgment on the need to enact a fiscal stimulus package that, if not carefully designed, could do more harm than good.