National

Poor Payroll, GDP Reports Add to Recession Fears

By Adam Davidson, Robert Siegel

Published February 1, 2008 at 1:00 PM PST

This story was published more than 16 years ago.

January jobless numbers did nothing to improve the nation's economic outlook. Business payrolls fell by 17,000 last month. That's the first time payrolls have gone negative in 4.5 years.

Recession fears were already mounting because of another report this week that came in weaker than expected: The nation's gross domestic product expanded at an annual rate of only 0.6 percent, according to the Commerce Department.

Become a KPBS sponsor

National

Adam Davidson

Adam Davidson is a contributor to Planet Money, a co-production of NPR and This American Life. He also writes the weekly "It's the Economy" column for the New York Times Magazine.

Robert Siegel

Prior to his retirement, Robert Siegel was the senior host of NPR's award-winning evening newsmagazine All Things Considered. With 40 years of experience working in radio news, Siegel hosted the country's most-listened-to, afternoon-drive-time news radio program and reported on stories and happenings all over the globe, and reported from a variety of locations across Europe, the Middle East, North Africa, and Asia. He signed off in his final broadcast of All Things Considered on January 5, 2018.

More News