Increasing likelihood of recession

An article in today’s FT:

Wall Street stocks were set to fall on Friday after unemployment rose sharply and employers added far fewer jobs than expected last month raising fears the US economy is on the verge of tipping into recession.

Non-farm payrolls increased just 18,000 in December, compared with a revised 115,000 the previous month, the worst reading since August 2003. The payroll figure was much lower than an expected 70,000 increase.

The construction, manufacturing and retail sectors all saw job losses which were only partially offset by gains in the professional and technical services.

The dollar fell to a five-week low against euro, trading at $1.4822 from $1.4725 before the report.

With a weakening job market and wages for workers either stagnating or even declining, there will eventually be a tidal wave, a tsunami, of protest against any sort of immigration and every sort of outsourcing (despite the loony arguments of that nitwit Thomas Friedman). And it is long overdue.