IN the News - Job Loss in the U.S.

Greg's presentation today dealt with job loss in the U.S. Unemployment has been climbing, especially following the economic crisis of the last few months. It seems the government is bailing out larger companies, like banks, that directly affect the ability of other companies to pay their workers and stay afloat through loans. this may seem a bit unfair, as these companies at top, many of whom engaged in risky investing behavior, do not seem to be bearing the brunt of the economic downfall. Even those companies benefitting from government bailouts are cutting back workers, and those not benefitting are doing so or are planning to do so. the spiral efefcts of job loss will impact the whole consumer arena--people with less money to spend will buy less, causing other companies to scale back their workforce and so on. I'm not sure there are any recession-proof industries, although energy and food and other necessities can not disappear. I've heard that certain companies that cater to bargain-hungry consumers, like McDonald's and Walmart, have actually posted some gains. So, choosing who you work for is more important than ever.

One grammatical issue. Phrases like "drop in unemployment" seem like a double negative, since we assoicate a drop with a decrease and, combined with un, this phrase might suggest that we are actually seeing a rise in employment. the employment numbers are indeed dropping, but for unemployment to drop, should employment have to rise?