Buffett Bets ‘Very Heavily’ Against Second Recession Even After Jobs Data
Billionaire Warren Buffett said he is wagering on continued economic expansion and doesn’t expect a second recession.
“I would bet very heavily against that,” Buffett told Bloomberg Television’s Betty Liu on the “In the Loop” program today after data showed slowing U.S. job growth. “How fast the recovery will come, I don’t know. I see nothing that indicates any kind of a double dip.”
The unemployment rate unexpectedly climbed to 9.2 percent in June, the highest level this year, and hiring by companies was the weakest since May 2010, Labor Department data showed. U.S. employers added 18,000 jobs last month, less than the 105,000 median estimate in a Bloomberg News survey.
“It means that we’re still a ways off from getting to where we should be,” Buffett said in the interview, in Sun Valley, Idaho. “We’re seeing growth around the world, but it’s not mushrooming.”
Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (BRK/A) added about 3,000 jobs last year after cutting more than 20,000 positions in 2009. The Omaha, Nebraska-based company employed about 260,000 people at units from insurance and shipping to consumer goods and energy, Berkshire said in February. Employment gained last year at Berkshire units including car insurer Geico and railroad Burlington Northern Santa Fe. Staffing fell at carpet-maker Shaw Industries.
“Jobs come with demand,” Buffett, 80, said today. “We’re seeing demand a lot of places but we’re not seeing it in the construction field.”
Bricks, Carpet
Berkshire owns a real estate brokerage, a maker of manufactured homes and units that construct roofs and sell bricks and carpet. Buffett said in February that a housing recovery would begin “within a year or so” and that he’s preparing the company’s businesses for growth. Buffett is chairman and chief executive officer of Berkshire.
Berkshire expanded its Acme Brick unit with a $50 million acquisition, and Johns Manville, the roofing subsidiary, is building a $55 million plant in Ohio, Buffett said in his annual letter. Shaw will spend $210 million on plant and equipment this year, Buffett said.
“We will come back big time on employment when residential construction comes back,” Buffett said. The unemployment rate will drop to 6 percent “within a few years,” he said.
To contact the reporter on this story: Andrew Frye in New York at afrye@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Dan Kraut at dkraut2@bloomberg.net
Warren Buffett
Matthew Staver/Bloomberg
Warren Buffett, chairman and chief executive officer of Berkshire Hathaway Inc., arrives for a morning session at the Allen & Co. Media and Technology Conference in Sun Valley, Idaho.
Warren Buffett, chairman and chief executive officer of Berkshire Hathaway Inc., arrives for a morning session at the Allen & Co. Media and Technology Conference in Sun Valley, Idaho. Photographer: Matthew Staver/Bloomberg
July 8 (Bloomberg) -- Warren Buffett, chief executive officer of Berkshire Hathaway Inc., talks about the outlook for the U.S. housing market and employment. Buffett, speaking with Betty Liu on Bloomberg Television's "In the Loop," also discusses President Barack Obama's policies and continued negotiations on a U.S. deficit plan. The speak from the Allen & Co. conference in Sun Valley, Idaho. (This is an excerpt of the full interview. Source: Bloomberg)
July 8 (Bloomberg) -- Warren Buffett, chief executive officer of Berkshire Hathaway Inc., talks about the debt ceiling debate and the U.S. economy. Buffett, speaking with Betty Liu on Bloomberg Television's "In the Loop," also discusses his views on acquisitions, the labor market and Todd Combs. (Source: Bloomberg)
Warren Buffett
Scott Eells/Bloomberg
Warren Buffett, chairman and chief executive officer of Berkshire Hathaway Inc., speaks during an interview with Bloomberg Television on the sidelines of the Allen & Co. Media and Technology Conference in Sun Valley, Idaho on July 8, 2011.
Warren Buffett, chairman and chief executive officer of Berkshire Hathaway Inc., speaks during an interview with Bloomberg Television on the sidelines of the Allen & Co. Media and Technology Conference in Sun Valley, Idaho on July 8, 2011. Photographer: Scott Eells/Bloomberg
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