Asian markets fall after weak US jobs report

[question everything]

Source: AP

Asian stock markets fell Monday after a worse-than-expected U.S. jobs report raised concerns a strong recovery in the world's largest economy is still far off. Most of the region's markets suffered modest losses, while the dollar ticked up against the yen and crude oil prices lingered below $70 a barrel.

Investors held back after a U.S. government report Friday showed that employers cut 263,000 jobs last month, far worse than the 201,000 economists expected. The unemployment rate increased to 9.8 percent. The news was unsettling because it suggested companies were still relying on cost-cutting to eke out profits and consumers were still hurting and unlikely to boost their spending anytime soon. It also inspired extra caution ahead of third-quarter earnings reports this week that could shed more light on the U.S. economy's health.

Japan's Nikkei 225 stock average lost 58.41 points, or 0.6 percent, to 9,673.46, and Hong Kong's Hang Seng slipped 35.41, or 0.2 percent, to 20,340.08. In South Korea, the Kospi dropped nearly 2 percent to 1,612.13. India's benchmark fell 0.8 percent, Australia's index was down 0.3 percent and Singapore's benchmark fell 1 percent.



Read more: http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Asian-markets-fall-after-weak-apf-1123739918.html?x=0&sec=topStories&pos=main&asset=&ccode=

[thunder rising]

1. But 6000000 H1-Bs are still employed in the US. Somebody's working ... it just ain't us

[fasttense]

2. SIX MILLION H1-B visas??? Are you sure?? Do you have a link?

Man, 6 million new jobs sure would go a long, long way to alleviate the unemployment problem.

Wow, Obama pledged to save or create only about half that.

[truthisfreedom]

3. The current law limits to 65,000 the number of aliens who may be issued a visa or otherwise provided

The current law limits to 65,000 the number of aliens who may be issued a visa or otherwise provided H-1B status each fiscal year (FY).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H-1B_visa

[fasttense]

4. But Visa renewals do not count toward the annual limits.

And there are exemptions to the cap if the employer is a University or Research Lab.

The cap was as high as 195,000 in FY2001, FY2002 and FY2003 due to the high demand that coincided with the dot-com bubble.

So, the number could be much larger, though I doubt it is 6 million.

[thunder rising]

5. Visas are granted for 3 yrs, renewed once for 3 additional. Renewals don't count. Many job desc

don't count.