US adding 50,000 jobs as economy shrinks 6.2 per cent in Q4

The US government is planning to create 50,000 new jobs even as the economy shrank 6.2 per cent in the last quarter of 2008 amidst falling production and exports.

This is the worst since the 6.4 per cent drop recorded the first quarter of 1982, when the country was suffering a severe recession.

The US administration announced a massive hiring of 50,000 police personnel as the economic downturn wiped off thousands of jobs from hundreds of the American companies.

As the world's largest economy winds up a full year of recession, the Barack Obama government in its first budget has proposed necessary funding to begin hiring 50,000 additional police officers.

"Supporting the hiring of police nationwide will help states and communities prevent the growth of crime during the economic downturn," the Office of Management and Budget said in the budget proposals for FY2010.

The commerce department's initial estimate of fourth-quarter gross domestic product (GDP) released last month showed a 3.8 per cent decline.

The fourth-quarter contraction followed a 0.5 per cent decline in the third quarter; it was the first time of back-to-back quarterly contractions since the 1990-1991 recession.

For the full year of 2008, the economy grew at a modest 1.1 per cent annualised rate, compared with the prior estimate of 1.3 per cent.

That pace was the weakest since 2001, when the annual growth rate fell to 0.8 per cent. In 2007, GDP rose at a 2.0 per cent rate.

"The decrease in real GDP in the fourth quarter primarily reflected negative contributions from exports, personal consumption expenditures, equipment and software, and residential fixed investment that were partly offset by a positive contribution from federal government spending," the commerce department said.