Mass layoffs increase, US becoming “miserable”.
“The number of mass layoffs by U.S. employers edged up in January as manufacturers stepped up job cuts.A total of 182,261 workers were affected last month. In January, 486 mass layoff events were reported in manufacturing, resulting in 62,556 workers filing claims for state unemployment benefits. It was the first increase in mass layoffs in manufacturing since August.”
The optimism once held by many Americans has been “beaten out” of them amid a lagging economy, threat of terrorism and two ongoing wars, according Emory University.”All of those things … have made people start to be much more doubtful than they used to be,” says Patrick Allitt. The decline of American confidence isn’t just a temporary blip on the screen brought on by the recession. People who were brought up in the 1930s during the Great Depression — the image of it stayed with them for a lifetime. … In the same way, I expect the kids who have grown up in the last few years are also going to carry the marks of this with them through life.
