Latest unemployment report little comfort for boomers clients

Commentary June 09, 2008 at 08:00 PM
Share & Print

Losing your job when you're about to retire might throw a slight wrinkle into your financial plan. Older boomer clients will be anxious about the next report, and will look to their advisor for reassurance. The U.S. reported the steepest rise in unemployment in 22 years – to 5.5 percent in May, suggesting consumers already facing a housing slump and soaring gasoline prices now confront even more pressure from a weakening jobs market.

According to the Wall Street Journal, the data, which included a fifth-straight drop in non-farm employment, should take financial-market expectations of Federal Reserve rate increases as soon as this autumn off the table.

According to the paper, non-farm payrolls, which are calculated by a survey of establishments, declined 49,000 in May. More disturbingly, the decline was broad-based, including manufacturing, construction, retail trade and business services. Payrolls fell 28,000 in April and 88,000 in March. Both were revised to upward to show slightly larger drops.

NOT FOR REPRINT

© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.

Related Stories

Resource Center