Hong Kong (AsiaNews / Agencies) - Many Asian stock markets fell today for the 3rd day in a row, after the bad news that unemployment reached 9.5% in the United States and Europe, furthering doubts that the desired economic recovery is anywhere near.
In Tokyo the Nikkei index fell by 1, 3%. While in Hong Kong the stock index, after an initial drop, rose to a substantially equal -0.1%.
The U.S. Department for Labour said that nationwide 467 thousand jobs were cut in June, over 100 thousand more than forecast. It is the worst unemployment rate (9.5%) since 1983, and it is expected that the figure will grow. Since 2007 the U.S. have cut 6.5 million jobs. The high and growing number of unemployed leads to the conclusion that there will be no immediate future upturn in consumption and therefore sales, partly because the unemployed are having greater difficulty in finding new stable employment.
The U.S. President, Barack Obama said he was "very concerned" by unemployment levels adding that many families are wondering if “they will be next " to loose economic security.
At 9.5%, the rate of unemployed in Europe was identical, the worst on record since1999. It is now 18 months of constant decline in global employment.
Hiroshi Morikawa, an expert at Investment Agency Bloomberg said that " People expected a drastic improvement in the U.S. job market, which turned out to be too optimistic... Household spending won’t recover anytime soon. Consumers are flocking to discounted products and that may damage the economy through deflation. "
