Bush Economy Shedding Jobs Again

The non-farm payrolls dropped 17,000 in January - the first job bleeding in 4 years.  This on top of an already weak December job report.

Follow me over the break for more details.

According to this article, non-farm payrolls contracted by 17,000 jobs.  The market was expecting a 85,000 increase, which is still not enough to keep up with population growth.  For most of Bush's first term, the job market contracted and he barely created a single job.  Now, it looks like the job market is on the weak side again.

This is the start of a trend as this paragraph states:

The labor market has clearly deteriorated. Job growth has averaged 41,000 over the past three months, compared with an average of 109,000 in the first quarter of 2007.

Manufacturing continue to whither away as this paragraph states:

Manufacturing jobs declined by 28,000, the biggest drop since August. Factory jobs have fallen for 19 straight months. Over the past year, manufacturing has lost 269,000 jobs.

The engine in this economy, real-estate and construction, has stopped:

Construction jobs fell by 27,000 for the seventh straight monthly decline. Construction has lost 284,000 jobs since its peak in September 2006.

Financial sector employment fell by 2,000 in January, with declines in many sectors. Real estate shed 5,000 jobs. The mortgage sector has lost 111,000 jobs since October 2006.

The only growth was in the service sector - 34,000 increase.  Would you like fries with that?

It is anybodies guess as to whether the contraction will continue.