economic expansion

Zero jobs were created in August. Does that, by itself, augur another recession? Not necessarily -- but add the state of consumer confidence, and top it off with Wall Street skittishness, and all signs point to trouble ahead. Government economists, however, are predicting growth. Here's why they may be wrong.

Factory orders rose just 0.1% in July, the U.S. Commerce Department announced Thursday in a report that further clarified that the manufacturing sector's expansion slowed down this summer. While the statistic did indicate tepid growth, it was less than the 0.3% gain economists had predicted.

The Labor Department's jobless report finally brought a bit of good news Thursday: Initial jobless claims fell by an unexpectedly large 31,000 last week to 473,000. Even so, unemployment remains at what policy makers consider an unacceptably high level.

America is stuck in a job drought -- adding just 71,000 new private sector jobs while shedding 131,000 -- and that will put more pressure on the Fed to stimulate the slack economy. One puzzle: How to create jobs in a period of soaring productivity?

Growth in manufacturing slowed in July. Even so, the sector registered its 12th straight month of expansion and employment and prices rose.

In comments posted on China's Central Government website, Premier Wen Jiabao warned that China's economy is facing mounting difficulties as a result of the international financial crisis and the unpredictable nature of the global economic recovery.

Sure, durable goods orders fell 1.1% in the month -- the first decline in six months. But if you remove the volatile transportation component, orders rose 0.9%, confirming an ongoing expansion in the nation's manufacturing sector.

As my colleague Douglas McIntyre described in "Unemployment problems are worse than meet the eye," unemployment in this recession is different -- what many are calling structural unemployment, meaning a decline in the jobs base, which is not going to bounce back quickly due to deep structural...