• Wall Street experiences worst day of the year

    Justin Lane / EPA

    A trader works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, June 1, at the Closing Bell in New York City. The Dow Jones Industrial average lost 277 points after the release of a disappointing jobs report.

    Justin Lane / EPA

    Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange on Friday.

    By Robert Hood

    I generally don’t put much stock in the expressions of traders on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, but today’s bad economic news does seem to be reflected in the faces of these people.

    Msnbc.com’s Roland jones reports:

    A gloomy U.S. jobs report and signs of a global economic slowdown hammered Wall Street Friday, wiping out the stock market’s gains for 2012 and leaving investors wondering where to turn.

    The Dow Jones industrial average sank 275 points, or 2.2 percent, chalking up its biggest one-day drop since November. The market index closed down 0.8 percent for the year and off 2.7 percent for the week.

    Richard Drew / AP

    Anthony Riccio, center, work with fellow traders on the floor on Friday. The Dow Jones industrial average dropped more than 200 points, erasing what was left of its gain for the year.

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  • 500 job seekers finally receive applications

    Keith Bedford / Reuters

    Job seeker Matthew Cox, the first person in line, cheers after picking up a job application form at the training offices of Local Union 46, a union representing metallic lathers and reinforcing ironworkers, in the Queens borough of New York on April 30. All images in this post were photographed on April 30 by Keith Bedford of Reuters.

    Application forms were passed out to 500 people who camped in front of the offices of Local Union 46 in the Queens borough of New York for a week after the State Department of Labor and the union, which represents metallic lathers and reinforcing ironworkers, announced they were looking to hire 50 iron and wood apprentices.

    --Reuters

    Job seeker Dave Mugavero waits in front of the training offices of Local Union 46.

    A job seeker puts on his boots after waking up in front of the training offices of Local Union 46.

    Jestty Martinez hugs his partner and fellow job seeker Aida Munoz after waiting in front of the training offices of Local Union 46.

    Keith Bedford / Reuters

    Job seekers raise their hands as the numbers on their wristbands, which they were given when they began queuing last week, are called after waiting in front of the training offices of Local Union 46.

    Keith Bedford / Reuters

    Job seeker Matthew Cox, who was first in line, holds up a job application form at the training offices of Local Union 46.

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  • Keith Bedford / Reuters

    Job seekers wait in front of the training offices of Local Union 46, the union representing metallic lathers and reinforcing ironworkers, in the Queens borough of New York, April 29. About 500 people have been camping in front of the offices for a week after the State Department of Labor and the union announced they were looking to hire iron and wood apprentices for 50 positions. On Monday the first 500 people, who were given wristbands, will be given applications for the 50 positions.

    500 job seekers camp out for 50 positions in Queens borough of New York

    At the top of investors' radar screen next week will be the government's closely watched monthly jobs report for April, to be released on Friday. Jobs growth in March slowed to 120,000, the smallest increase since October, disappointing investors even though the unemployment rate fell to a three-year low of 8.2 percent.

    Ahead of the government's payrolls report, investors will be watching the ADP Employment Report due on Wednesday and weekly jobless claims data due on Thursday for indications of whether the labor market is gaining momentum.

    Corporate earnings, which drove gains in stocks last week, will also be in focus.

    -- Reported by Angela Moon and Rodrigo Campos, Reuters

    Read the full story.

    Related story: Why people stay mired in their careers

  • Ann Curry's photographs reveal courage, grit of America's soldiers

    Ann Curry

    By Ann Curry, NBC News anchor

    You can tell just by looking into their faces that they have confronted their fears of death, sometimes again and again. Something in their expressions reveals courage, focus, love of country and I think the greatness one hopes is possible in all of us.

    Ann Curry

    Since America's wars began in Afghanistan and Iraq, I have taken photographs of those who volunteered.  And whether it was in a forward operating base in Helmand Province days before an expected spring offensive over the mountains from Pakistan, or at one of Saddam's palaces in Baghdad, or in an Apache helicopter flying over Iraq, the same thing most deeply impresses: GRIT.  

    Ann Curry

    Ann Curry

    Ann Curry

    This is what made me press click on my camera. Isn't this the American grit we always hear about...the kind that links the Pilgrims to the Founding Fathers to soldiers throughout our history, including both Union and Confederate, and all the boys who dropped out of high school to fight on the beaches and in the sands and forests and jungles of World War II? 

    Ann Curry

    This grit is the stuff of America's past and its future. Today, as our nation nears the end of its rope, after bearing for too long the hard knocks of wars, fears of terrorism and a struggling economy, perhaps the grit learned on the battlefield, is exactly what we need now at home.

    Ann Curry

    Ann Curry

    One million war veterans are expected to return home over the next five years, looking for jobs that could give them a chance to fuel our economy.  Among them are potential future leaders, CEOs and senators, perhaps even a president one day.

    Ann Curry

    The future story of American grit may now depend on just how purposefully our nation faces welcoming our warriors home, and by that I mean each one of us.  

    For more on Hiring our Heroes, an initiative from NBC News and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce that aims to get veterans back into the workforce, click here. Learn more about job fairs for veterans here. 

     

  • With 13 million still out of work, jobs crisis not yet over

    Beck Diefenbach / Reuters

    Michael Johnson looks for warehouse work online at the Employment Development Department of California service office in San Francisco January 6, 2012. U.S. employment growth accelerated last month and the jobless rate dropped to a near three-year low of 8.5 percent, the strongest evidence yet the economic recovery is gaining steam.

    msnbc.com reports: Friday’s strengthening employment data good news for anyone looking for a job. And there are still plenty of people left in that category.

    With the unemployment rate at 8.5 percent in December, there were 13.1 million  Americans out of work, compared with 7 million when the recession began four years ago. The jobless rate was 7.5 percent for whites (3.1 percentage points higher than at the start of the recession), 15.8 percent for African Americans (6.8 percentage points higher), and 11 percent for Hispanics or Latinos (4.7 percentage points higher).

    The U.S. added 200,000 jobs in December, but there are still 6 million fewer jobs than there were in Dec. 2007. NBC's Tom Costello reports.

    Related:

    Better jobs data a mixed blessing for Obama

    Hiring gained traction in December

     

  • The fight continues for the unemployed at the White House and Congress

    Mark Wilson / Getty Images

    Sen. Olympia Snowe. left, questions Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner while Sen. Mary Landrieu, right, listens during a Senate Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee hearing on Capitol Hill, Oct. 18, in Washington, DC. The committee is hearing testimony on "The Small Business Jobs Act of 2010" one year later.

    Jewel Samad / AFP - Getty Images

    President Barack Obama speaks at the YMCA on Guilford Technical Community College Campus in Jamestown, North Carolina, on Oct. 18, during the second day of his three-day bus tour to discuss jobs and the economy. Obama is making the trip in effort to generate support for a $447 billion jobs bill blocked by Republican lawmakers in Washington. The White House has touted the jobs bill as a shot-in-the-arm for the economy and accused Republicans of playing politics by blocking it, as Democrats have vowed to break it down and bring votes on each of its components.

    By Phaedra Singelis, NBC News

    Two views of the same problem: unemployment.

    Despite public support, the president's jobs bill failed to pass in the Senate, so Obama is pushing Congress to pass it piece by piece. Full story on the swing-state jobs tour.

    Meanwhile, Geithner is testifying before the Senate Small Business committee on the Small Business Jobs Act from last year which created the $30 billion Small Business Lending Fund. The program distributed a little over $4 billion to 332 community banks nationwide in an effort to increase loans to small companies to stimulate growth. Treasury has blamed the low participation on a lack of qualified applicants.

  • Up the ladder: Cleaning crude palm oil in Jakarta

    Dadang Tri / Reuters

    A worker climbs a ladder after cleaning crude palm oil inside a container at Tanjung Priok port in Jakarta, Jan. 26. Indonesia will set the export tax for crude palm oil in February at 25 percent versus 20 percent in January, said a trade ministry official, confirming reports by industry sources.

    Dadang Tri / Reuters

    A worker cleans crude palm oil inside a container at Tanjung Priok port in Jakarta Jan. 26.

    By Elena Grothe

     Interesting perspective.

  • Jeffrey Phelps / AP

    A Harley-Davidson worker sits on his motorcycle as he waits for the vote tally in front of the Waukesha Exposition Center in Waukesha, Wi. on Sept. 13, 2010. Union workers ratified a seven-year labor contract.

    Harley-Davidson workers vote

    msnbc.com story: Harley Workers Vote In Favor of New Contract

    MILWAUKEE - Hundreds of Harley-Davidson workers voted in favor of a contract proposal from the company, a vote that will most likely keep the company's manufacturing operations in Milwaukee. The seven-year deal with freeze their pay, slash hundreds of jobs and assign large volumes of work to nonunion workers.