Unemployment on the Rise; 9.6%

"There was a slight uptick in the Unemployment Rate for July to 9.6%"

Unemployment Up.

The White House’s worries were well placed as the Jobless rate ticked up another tenth of a percent in August.

The Unemployment Rate now stands at 9.6%.

Unemployment rose to 9.6 percent in August as the nation lost 54,000 jobs.

The economy is growing, but at a such a slow pace that nervous employers may still cut more jobs than they add. That could push the unemployment rate back up to 10 percent by next year.

Rising applications for unemployment benefits are a sign that layoffs are increasing.  Economists are forecasting that new claims for jobless aid will edge up by 2,000 to 475,000 when the Labor Department issues its next weekly report Thursday.

While that’s not a large increase, claims are at much higher levels than would exist in a healthy economy.  When economic output is expanding rapidly and employers are hiring, requests for unemployment aid fall below 400,000.

Recent increases in claims don’t bode well for the employment report. Claims rose for three straight weeks last month, reaching the half-million mark for the first time since November, before falling sharply last week.

Unfortunately, the Jobless Rate is expected to continue to grow over the next few months, possibly reaching 10.0% again by the end of the year.

As the Obama Administration continues to struggle in its search for answers, critics point out what many have speculated all along;

President Obama is nothing more than a glorified Community Organizer.