Weak job market weighs on economy

Weak job market weighs on economy

WASHINGTON

The sluggish job market is weighing on the U.S. economy three years after the Great Recession ended. And the signs suggest hiring may not strengthen any time soon.

A measure of the number of people applying for unemployment benefits over the past month has reached a six-month high, the government said Thursday. The increase suggests that layoffs are rising and June will be another tepid month for hiring.

Sales of previously occupied homes fell in May. And manufacturing activity in the Philadelphia region contracted for the second- straight month in June.

The gloomy economic data echoed a more pessimistic outlook from the Federal Reserve issued Wednesday.

The reports also contributed to a sharp decline in stock prices. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 251 points to close at 12,574. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index and the Nasdaq composite both ended the day down more than 2 percent.

Secretary of Commerce resigns

WASHINGTON

Commerce Secretary John Bryson resigned Thursday less than two weeks after suffering a seizure and multiple car accidents in the Los Angeles area, saying he didn’t want his health to be a distraction from his job.

Bryson, a 68-year-old former California utility executive, served as a member of President Barack Obama’s economic team and advised the president on energy issues. He made his resignation official in a letter to Obama dated Wednesday, saying it was a “consequence of a recent seizure and a medical leave of absence.”

“I have concluded that the seizure I suffered on June 9 could be a distraction from my performance as secretary, and that our country would be better served by a change in leadership,” Bryson wrote.

Obama met with Bryson in the Oval Office on Thursday to thank him for his service. The president said in a statement he had accepted the resignation and that Bryson had provided “invaluable experience and expertise” to his administration.

Court throws out FCC penalties

WASHINGTON

Broadcasters anticipating a major constitutional ruling on the government’s authority to regulate what can be shown and said on the airwaves instead won only the smallest of Supreme Court victories Thursday.

The justices unanimously threw out fines and other penalties against Fox and ABC television stations that violated the Federal Communications Commission policy regulating curse words and nudity on television airwaves.

Forgoing a broader constitutional ruling, however, the court concluded only that broadcasters could not have known in advance that obscenities uttered during awards-show programs on Fox stations and a brief display of nudity on an episode of ABC’s “NYPD Blue” could give rise to penalties. ABC and 45 affiliates had been hit with proposed fines totaling nearly $1.24 million.

Associated Press