Is the economy rebounding — or flailing?

Layoffs signal a rebound in trouble

Disneyland.
(Image credit: Mario Tama/Getty Images)

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Twin dangers to the economy point to more pain ahead, said Jeanna Smialek at The New York Times. A new wave of layoffs from massive employers like Disney, United and American Airlines, Allstate, and Shell and Marathon Oil suggest that the rebound "may begin to feel more like the grinding healing process" in the decade following the Great Recession. That's because "companies that are limping along this far into the crisis" — particularly high-interaction businesses such as restaurants and theaters — are "increasingly unlikely to ever recall their employees," turning temporary layoffs into permanent reductions. Nearly 2.5 million people have been out of work for 27 weeks or more, the threshold the Labor Department uses to define "long-term unemployment." We've learned from the past three recessions that lasting joblessness can "haunt workers," forcing them to drop out of the job market or take lower pay. That can weigh down "the U.S.'s economic potential."

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