Job losses in the U.S. continued in May, but the pace slowed -- even as unemployment rate
rises to 9.4 percent.
Vice President Joe Biden announced over the weekend that he and President Barack Obama will announce plans
today to accelerate the economic stimulus plan -- to "ramp up implementation over the summer" to help
more Americans gain new jobs. The White House says that more than 150,000 jobs have already been saved
or created in the first 100 days of the stimulus plan.
Earlier on Friday, the Labor Department announced that nonfarm payrolls had declined by 345,000 in
May -- the fewest monthly job loss in the past 8 months. Still, since the start of the recession in December 2007, the
U.S. has lost 6 million jobs.
As expected, the nation's unemployment rate went from 8.9 percent in April to 9.4 percent in May... and
many experts expect the unemployment rate to hit 10 percent some time this year -- before we begin seeing
more effects of the economic recovery on hiring.
