WORLD> America
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WORLD> America
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Obama names leading economists to advisory panel
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-02-07 11:36
Before Obama signed the executive order officially creating the board, he addressed the jobs numbers and brought home the individual pains behind those almost incomprehensibly large numbers.
The US Labor Department reported earlier Friday that the unemployment rate rose to 7.6 percent in January, the highest level since 1992, as employers slashed 598,000 jobs. January's drop, far worse than the 524,000 jobs that economists expected, was followed revised declines of 577,000 jobs in December. The US economy has lost a staggering 3.6 million jobs since December 2007, when the recession began. And about one-half of this decline occurred in the past 3 months. Obama urged the Congress to quickly approve his massive stimulus plan, saying the current crisis could "turn into a catastrophe" if the Congress does not act swiftly. "We'll continue to get devastating job reports like today's -- month after month, year after year," he warned. "It's very important to understand that, although we had a terrible year with respect to jobs last year, the problem is accelerating, not decelerating. It's getting worse, not getting better," said the president.
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