11.3M jobless in U.S.

Press, 11 October 1982, Page 9

11.3M jobless in U.S.

NZPA-Reuter Washington Unemployment in the United States has climbed above 10 per cent for the first time since 1941, when the nation entered World War II and was emerging from the Great Depression. Reacting to the September jobless figures, which re-

corded 11.3 million out of work, Democrats said that President Ronald Reagan would pay for his economic policies in mid-term Congressional elections next month. Voters nationwide will elect the entire 435-member House of Representatives, now controlled by Demo-

crats, and 33 of the 100 seats in the Senate, tinder Republic control. In a gloomy forecast, the Treasury Secretary, Mr Donald Regan, said that the unemployment figures could get worse before economic recovery from the recession, which began in July. 1981, gets underway.

The Administration has said that the upturn would come in the second half of this year. Mr Regan said that more people could be out of a job in coming months. The Democratic National Committee chairman, Mr Charles Manatt. said that high unemployment meant "the Republicans are going to get the accumulated anger of an aroused American electorate."

The jobless rate among blacks continued to deteriorate. with one in five without work in September, prompting an angry outburst against Mr Reagan at a Congressional hearing.

“Doesn't this dreadful man know what enormous psychological pain he is imposing on people," said representative Parren Mitchell, a black Maryland Democrat.

In Long Beach, California. Mr Reagan said that the report was “bad news," but vowed his policies would return people to work.

The jobless figures got an angry response from trade unions and the National Fanners’ Union called them a shameful testament to Mr Reagan’s cruel economic experiment.