America's economic hamster seems to be well on its way to getting people back to work. The March jobs report came as a disappointment to many, with only 120,000 new jobs created -- far below the recent three-month average of 246,000 -- but it did serve to lower unemployment to 8.2%. Moreover, the jobless claims rate is at its lowest level in four years.
But as with every economic recovery in the past, there must always be laggards. Just because some Americans are finally getting back to work doesn't mean the sun is shining on every sector. Here are three such sectors where the pink slips are still flowing like water.
Pharmaceuticals
Back in January, I noted how numerous pharmaceutical companies were putting up their "no vacancy" signs in anticipation of what is expected to be an unparalleled year of drug patent expirations. AstraZeneca is slated to lose its blockbuster schizophrenia drug Seroquel and responded in February by notifying 7,300 employees that their services would no longer be needed. AstraZeneca has shed just shy of 30,000 jobs since 2006. Pfizer
Banking
The CEOs of some of the nation's biggest banks are receiving healthy boosts in pay, but that generosity isn't trickling down in any way to their employees. Citigroup's
Aerospace and defense
Somehow you just sort of knew that when the U.S. government said it needed to trim the federal budget by more than $2 trillion, the defense sector would feel the brunt of it. The $500 billion worth of cuts being implemented over the next decade would likely "dismantle" the U.S. aerospace and defense sector, according to Robert Stevens, CEO of Lockheed Martin
Foolish roundup
As much as we hate to believe it, the jobs market is still in a fragile state, and we should keep this in mind despite the recent optimistic data. We're going to need at least one of these three sectors to turn around if we are to have any hope of staging a push below 8% unemployment in my opinion.
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