BUSINESS BRIEFS
Nation's jobless rate dips to 4.6%
Advertiser News Services
WASHINGTON — The unemployment rate last month dipped to 4.6 percent even though the number of new jobs was disappointing, a sign the economy is slowing but in no danger of stalling as Election Day nears.
Employers added 51,000 jobs to the nation's payrolls, the fewest new hires in 11 months — a tally well short of the 120,000 positions private analysts predicted. However, job gains for both July and August turned out to be stronger than previously estimated, and that blunted some of the sting.
Job cuts at factories, retailers and government tempered job gains in construction, education and health services, and elsewhere.
GOOGLE DEFENDS ONLINE PROJECTS
NEW YORK — Google Inc. has issued subpoenas for detailed information about its rivals' book-scanning projects as part of its defense against lawsuits attacking its own plans to put the contents of entire libraries online.
Google wants documents detailing every book the companies have made available online or plan to by the end of 2009. The Internet search leader sent subpoenas last week to Yahoo Inc., Microsoft Corp., the Association of American Publishers, HarperCollins Publishers Inc., Bertelsmann AG's Random House Inc. and Holtzbrinck Publishers LLC. A similar request went to Amazon.com Inc. on Wednesday.
UNION PERSISTS IN GOODYEAR STRIKE
AKRON, Ohio — The strike against Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. entered its second day yesterday with union workers determined to press their demands after accepting concessions three years ago that they say were critical to the tiremaker's successful turnaround.
In 2003, the union agreed to allow the company to cut some 6,000 jobs including closing a plant in Alabama, as well as trim pay, healthcare and pension benefits. The union said Goodyear's proposal this time around would cut pay, hurt retiree benefits and included plans to close factories in Gadsden, Ala., and Tyler, Texas, that employ about 2,190 people. That's a slap in the face, say workers who believe they helped get Goodyear back in the black.
DEFICIT ESTIMATE DROPS TO $250B
WASHINGTON — The federal budget deficit estimate for the fiscal year just completed has dropped to $250 billion, congressional estimators said yesterday, as the economy continued to fuel impressive tax revenues.
The Congressional Budget Office's latest estimate is $10 billion below CBO predictions issued in August and well below a July White House prediction of $296 billion. The improving deficit picture — Bush predicted a $423 billion deficit in his February budget — has been driven by better-than-expected tax receipts, especially from corporate profits, CBO said.The 2005 deficit registered $318 billion; the record $413 billion deficit was posted in 2004.
