WASHINGTON – The Labor Department’s latest job figures indicate the economic recovery is “faltering,” says Peter Morici, an economist and professor at the University of Maryland Robert H. Smith School of Business.
“Things are likely to get worse before they’ll get better,” Morici tells WTOP.
Morici says it’s not just Friday’s disappointing report that U.S. employers created only 69,000 jobs in May, causing an uptick in the unemployment rate from 8.1 to 8.2 percent.
He says it’s part of a trend.
“We’ve had considerable signs the last few weeks that the economic recovery is faltering,” Morici says.
Morici says businesses remained very concerned about economic conditions in Europe and China, and banks are still not lending enough to small businesses.
“This’ll affect the presidential campaign, but my bet is that the economy won’t fall apart in time for (Republican presidential candidate) Mitt Romney really to make a case out of it,” Morici says.
Hear more of Morici’s analysis by listening to the interview above and to the right.
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