Just A Reminder

The job picture is pretty bad here in the US, but it's much worse in places like Spain, where the national jobless rate is already a whopping 17.4%.

In the past year, two million people have lost their jobs taking the total out of work to just over four million.

The Bank of Spain recently predicted the jobless rate would reach 19.4% in 2010, as the recession took hold.

"It is a terrible figure," Octavio Granado, secretary of state for social security told state television.

He said the first quarter of any year was traditionally bad for employment in Spain.

Mr Granado also said that 2009 was expected to be the worst part of the economic downturn.

"So we are in the epicentre of the crisis. We are in the eye of the perfect storm," he said.

I think quite a few countries are going to top the 20-25% official unemployment rate nationally, along with the U-6 rate here in stateside (currently 15.6% and rising).

There's no sign of improvement in the unemployment picture at all, if anything it's looking to get far worse according to government data.

Employers took 2,933 mass layoff actions in March that resulted in the separation of 299,388 workers, seasonally adjusted, as measured by initial claims for unemployment insurance benefits filed during the month. Layoff events and initial claims rose to their highest levels on record, with data available back to 1995.

The number of mass layoff events in March increased by 164 from the prior month, while the number of associated initial claims increased by 3,911. Over the year, the number of mass layoff events increased by 1,348, and the number of associated initial claims increased by 137,891.

In March 2009, the manufacturing sector experienced 1,259 mass layoff events, seasonally adjusted, resulting in 155,909 claims. Over the month, mass layoff events in manufacturing increased by 24, and initial claims increased by 3,291. Layoff events in the manufacturing sector reached its highest level on record in March.

The government defines mass layoff as 50 or more from one company at one time, and more and more companies are going to be slashing big numbers over the next year at the minimum. In other words, companies are no longer nickel and diming a few positions here or there. They are laying off hundreds of people at a time. It's not just small businesses that are hurting but big ones too. That will only continue to accelerate as the consumer economy grinds to a halt.

Banks still aren't lending at the consumer level. Do you see any banks offering protection plans on homes or credit card purchases like car companies are doing if you lose your job? They're getting money in from the government of course, but they know more and more Americans are major credit risks now, just a couple of lost paychecks or a layoff away from falling completely behind on bills. Without consumers buying homes, cars, vacations and big ticket items, there will be no recovery no matter what signs of life are seen in the markets. And without recovery stabilizing the unemployment market, there will be no confidence to buy or lend. It's a nasty catch-22, and we're all stuck in the middle.