Archive for category Unemployment
Will The Unemployment Disaster Be Obama’s Katrina?
Posted by admin in Political Mix, Unemployment on December 5th, 2009
Market Mix Up
By Arianna Huffington - Nov. 23, 2009 06:14 PM
The Huffington Post
There’s a Category 5 storm about to make landfall, and the president and the officials in charge of preparing for the approaching disaster don’t seem to be particularly worried. Sound familiar?
Just as Katrina exposed critical weaknesses in the priorities and competence of the Bush administration, the unfolding unemployment disaster is threatening to do the same for the Obama White House.
The members of the Obama administration may not be attending a birthday party at John McCain’s ranch in Sedona or shopping for expensive Ferragamo shoes in New York as a great American city is destroyed, but their decidedly lackadaisical response to what job losses are doing to multiple great American cities raises the question: will unemployment be Barack Obama’s Katrina?
His economic team’s resistance to a second round of stimulus, “lukewarm” reaction to Congressional jobs legislation, and prioritization of deficit reduction over job creation certainly has the feel of a taking-in-the-damage-from-2,500-feet flyover moment.
“There is no discussion of a package like a second stimulus,” said deputy White House press secretary Jennifer Psaki. “But we are working closely with Congress and consulting with outside experts to determine the right policies and next steps.” No word on whether those outside experts include the 1 in 6 workers currently unemployed or underemployed.
Of course, the real problem isn’t the outside experts; the administration’s wrongheaded approach is a classic inside job. Sen. Sherrod Brown summed it up on CNN, telling John King that when it comes to putting the focus on Main Street, the president’s “advisors are mixed.”
Which makes one wonder: what level of unemployment would it take to unmix them? Even 10.2 percent, the highest level in 26 years, after 22 straight months of job losses, doesn’t seem to have quickened the pulse of Larry Summers and Tim Geithner.
And it’s not like the levees haven’t begun to crack, with the real unemployment rate — factoring in discouraged and partially employed workers — at 17.5 percent, the unemployment rate for workers aged 16 to 24 at 19 percent, and the unemployment rate for young African-Americans at 30 percent. What’s more, the average length of unemployment is at a record high, while the ratio of job seekers to open positions is now 6 to 1.
A new ABC/Washington Post poll reported that 30 percent of Americans say someone in their home has lost a job. I’m guessing that Summers and Geithner are comfortably in the other 70 percent. But even if it hasn’t hit home for them, it should be clear that unemployment is going to be the singular issue of 2010.
Congressional Democrats have certainly gotten the message — and have grown tired of waiting for the White House to take the lead. According to The Hill, House Democratic leaders, including Speaker Pelosi, are “worried they’ve appeared unresponsive to rising unemployment because they were absorbed by health care.” The article also says that Harry Reid has told colleagues he wants a jobs bill soon.
As John Larson, the fourth-ranking House Democrat puts it: “It’s jobs, jobs, jobs, jobs. Members of this caucus feel… that a jobless recovery is just simply unacceptable to us.”
The problem for the White House and for the Democratic Party — and, most importantly, for the country — is that the administration’s response on jobs is being led by Summers, who actually opposed the extension of unemployment benefits Obama just signed. At this point you have to wonder what Obama’s attachment to Summers and Geithner is. We know if you become a target of Glenn Beck and cause five seconds of embarrassment to the administration you need to start updating your resume (ask Van Jones), but if you slowly bring down the administration, and the party, and the country, that’s apparently fine.
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Black unemployment ‘a serious problem’
Posted by admin in Mixed Economy, Unemployment on December 5th, 2009
by David Goldman - Dec. 4, 2009 03:17 PM ET
CNNMoney.com
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — While the overall unemployment rate for Americans fell in November, the jobless gap between African-Americans and all other races actually rose, continuing a disturbing trend that has many lawmakers up in arms.
The black community has suffered the hardest during the economic downturn, with an unemployment rate that currently stands at 15.6%. That’s a much higher rate than for all of the other races that the Labor Department tracks, including Hispanics (12.7%), whites (9.3%) and Asians (7.3%).
The jobless rate for blacks has also grown much faster than for other races.
The difference between the unemployment rates for blacks and whites fell to an all-time low of 3.5 percentage points in August 2007. As the economy fell into a recession, that gap rapidly grew. By April 2009, the gap hit a 13-year high, doubling to a staggering 7 percentage points.
Though the separation between white and black jobless rates has narrowed slightly since the spring, it is still trending higher, rising to 6.3 percentage points in November from 6.2 points in the previous month.
The trend has many in Washington heated.
“We’re so focused on ‘too big to fail’ that we’re treating this issue as ‘too little to matter,’” said Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, D-Mo., chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus’ jobs task force. “We have a serious problem, and the army of the unemployed is growing darker by the month.”
Cleaver said the main reason for such a high rate of black unemployment is a lack of opportunities for proper job training in urban communities. That’s an issue that the Obama administration says it is working on with stimulus money and other government-funded programs.
“Traditionally, these groups are most impacted when there’s a recession,” Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis told CNNMoney.com.
Solis said that through stimulus and Labor Department grant programs, the government has targeted job training in communities with high unemployment, particularly heavily urban communities with high concentrations of African-Americans and Latinos.
“We have had some success in doing that, but of course we have a long way to go,” Solis said.
But Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., argued that many of those programs are wasted money. She said a large amount of government dollars are spent on funding private post-secondary schools that are targeted to urban communities, and she believes the schools are “rip-offs.”
“They’re soliciting people to sign up for training on job titles that don’t widely exist like ‘nurses assistants,’” said Waters, also a member of the Congressional Black Caucus. “That money should be used for training for jobs that will be around in the new economy like green jobs and new technologies.”
El Centro, Calif., maintains 30% jobless rate
Posted by admin in Unemployment on December 3rd, 2009
by Hibah Yousuf - Dec. 2, 2009 4:37 PM est
CNNMoney.com
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — El Centro, Calif., held its position of having the highest unemployment rate among the nation’s metropolitan areas, with the jobless rate at 30%, according to government figures released Wednesday.
While the figure fell from a revised 32.2% in September, it climbed from 26.8% a year ago and it is staggering even against the nation’s 10.2% unemployment rate, which is at a 26-year high.
But the jobless picture has always been inferior in southern California’s Imperial Valley.
“Our area typically has a high unemployment rate around 17%, so the hike is modeled after what the rest of the country has experienced,” said Cathy Kennerson, chief executive of the El Centro Chamber of Commerce. In 2006, El Centro’s unemployment rate ranged between 12.2% and 18.4%.
Double digits are normal in the good times in the desert just east of San Diego because it is an agricultural area and the farming workforce collects unemployment for half of the year.
But the real estate bust has really put the area over the edge.
“We have a lot of seasonal agricultural jobs, but our economy is the worst I have ever seen it and it doesn’t seem to be recovering,” said Jim Duggins, 62, owner of Duggins Construction in Imperial, Calif.
Duggins has had to cut his company’s workforce by more than 80% to 22 employees from 120 due to the downturn. And if things don’t turn around, he’ll have to make another round of cuts.
“We’re surviving, but we’re back to the basics of when we started in the 1960s,” said Duggins, who has eliminated workers that been with his company for more than 30 years. “If we make it, we might only come out with six employees.”
To outlast the economic crisis, Duggins Construction has adapted its business from a new commercial construction focus to include remodels and renovations. But until banks loosen their grips and start lending again, Duggins said business won’t return to normal.
State unemployment rates rise
Posted by admin in Unemployment on November 21st, 2009
by David Goldman - Nov. 21, 2009 9:12 AM EST
CNNMoney.com
A growing number of states reported rising jobless rates in October, and thirteen states reported unemployment rates above the national average of 10.2%, according to a government report released on Friday.
Overall, jobless rates increased in 29 states and the District of Columbia last month, while they fell in 13 states, according to a monthly Labor Department survey on state unemployment.
In September, 23 states and Washington D.C. reported that their unemployment rates increased, and 14 states had jobless rates above the national average.
Michigan remained the state with the highest rate of unemployment at 15.1%, though that rate was down 0.2 percentage points from September. October was the 11th straight month in which Michigan posted an unemployment rate above 10%.
Still, that’s nowhere near the 68-consecutive months in which Michigan had double-digit unemployment between 1980 and 1985. That included a record high of 16.9% in November 1982.
Some signs of improvement
In a sign that the worst-hit state may be experiencing a glimmer of recovery, Michigan added 38,600 jobs in October, more than any other state except for Texas, which added nearly 42,000 jobs. California added 25,700 jobs last month.
In fact, the Labor Department reported that 28 states added jobs in October.
“While we have been focusing on a very broad, deep recession, as we get into a recovery, we may see some more regional improvements,” said Robert Dye, senior economist at PNC Financial Services Group.
“Those that will do well are areas tied to the federal government, manufacturing, oil production and trade. But those more heavily exposed to the housing industry will lag behind.”
Dye said Texas, Louisiana and the surrounding Washington D.C. areas in particular will start creating jobs faster than other locations. Florida, Arizona and Nevada, which have been hit the hardest by the housing crisis, will continue to lose jobs, he said.
Unemployment rates, which are taken from a separate survey, tend to rise even as the employers start hiring again, because the survey only counts people who are looking for work. When times are bad, many people become discouraged and give up their job search, so they are not counted in the unemployment data.
Weekly jobless claims unchanged at 505,000
Posted by admin in Unemployment on November 19th, 2009
By Jeffry Bartash - Nov. 19, 2009 8:32 AM EST
MarketWatch.com
WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — The number of people filing initial claims for state unemployment benefits was flat at a seasonally adjusted 505,000 in the week ended Nov. 14, the Labor Department reported Thursday. Economists surveyed by MarketWatch expected initial claims to drop to 500,000. The level of initial claims in the week ended Nov. 7 was revised up by 3,000 to 505,000. The four-week average of initial claims dropped 6,500 to 514,000.
October Jobless Rate Tops 10%
Posted by admin in Unemployment on November 6th, 2009
Market Mix Up
by Luca Di Leo & Jeff Bater - Nov. 6, 2009 12:42 P.M. ET
WSJ.com
WASHINGTON — U.S. unemployment rose by more than expected in October to hit its highest level in more than 26 years and employers cut more jobs than forecast, a sign the labor market continues to struggle as the economy emerges from its deep recession.
The unemployment rate, calculated using a survey of households as opposed to companies, rose by 0.4 percentage point to 10.2%, the Labor Department said Friday. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires had forecast an increase to 9.9%.
Nonfarm payrolls fell by 190,000 last month, with the largest job losses in construction, manufacturing, and retail trade. Economists had expected a 175,000 decrease.
Since the start of the recession in December 2007, the number of unemployed has increased by 8.2 million and the unemployment rate has grown by 5.3 percentage points.
The unemployment figures for October strengthen the Federal Reserve’s view that interest rates should remain at record lows to bolster a fragile recovery.
The U.S. central bank Wednesday cited “low rates of resource utilization” as one of the key reasons why it expects its benchmark rate to remain close to zero for an “extended period.” The high jobless rate is a clear indicator of low rates of resource utilization.
In the past, the Fed has started to hike interest rates only several months after the jobless rate peaked.
Though still a terrible loss by historical standards, the payroll data reflects some improvement. Monthly job cuts in January 2009 totaled 741,000, for example.
More recent employment data out Thursday had shown some improvement in the labor market. New claims for unemployment benefits decreased by 20,000 to 512,000 in the week ended Oct. 31, the lowest level since Jan. 3.
The high unemployment numbers come a day after Congress approved an extension of federal jobless benefits for up to another 20 weeks, sending the bill to the White House for President Barack Obama’s signature.
President Barack Obama this week warned that job losses are likely to continue in the weeks ahead.
“We are just not where we need to be yet. We’ve got a long way to go,” Obama told a meeting of the President’s Economic Recovery Advisory Board on Monday.
The U.S. economy expanded in the third quarter for the first time in more than a year, growing an annual 3.5% as the government’s stimulus boosted consumer spending. The productivity of U.S. workers surged over the same period.
However, weakness in the labor market is expected to weigh on the recovery. The usual pattern in economic recoveries is that productivity rises first, then employment follows.
Friday’s report showed that average hourly earnings rose by 0.3%, or $0.05, to $18.72.
Employment in the service sector — the main source of U.S. jobs — fell 61,000 in October. Business and professional services companies shed 18,000 jobs. Retail trade cut 40,000 jobs and leisure and hospitality employment fell by 37,000.
Employment in government was unchanged last month from September.
The average workweek was also unchanged at 33.0 hours in October
State jobless picture brightens a little
Posted by admin in Unemployment on October 21st, 2009
By Julianne Pepitone, CNNMoney.com staff reporter
In September, 23 states saw jobless rates rise, government says. Michigan remains hardest hit at 15.3%.
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — Fewer states posted an increase in unemployment in September, even as the national rate of 9.8% hit a fresh 26-year high.
Jobless rates increased in 23 states and the District of Columbia last month, according to a report released Wednesday by the Labor Department.
Additionally, 19 states posted a decrease in unemployment, and eight states had rates hold steady in September.
By comparison, in the previous month 27 states and the District of Columbia recorded month-over-month unemployment rate increases.
Michigan remains the hardest hit at 15.3%. Nevada was next with 13.3% unemployment, followed by Rhode Island at 13% and California, at 12.2%.
Florida, which had 11% unemployment, as well as Nevada and Rhode Island all posted the highest unemployment rates on record since the survey of states began in 1976.
A total of 15 states reported jobless rates above 10% in September, according to the federal data.
Unemployment benefits. Even as the economy has started showing some signs of turnaround, unemployment has remained a persistent problem. The national unemployment rate is widely expected to push above 10%. Nationwide, September marked the 21st consecutive month that the total number of workers on payrolls shrunk — a period during which 7.2 million jobs were lost.
Meanwhile, Congress is debating measures that would offer extended lifeline benefits to the unemployed. Benefits for hundreds of thousands of jobless Americans have expired in recent weeks with thousands more falling off the rolls ever day. A month ago, the House approved an extension but the Senate has not yet voted on it.
In the Senate proposal, unemployment benefits would be extended by up to 14 weeks in every state and then another six weeks on top of that in states where the unemployment rate tops 8.5%. Currently, states topping 8% now offer up to 79 weeks of benefits, said Chad Stone, chief economist of the liberal Center for Budget and Policy Priorities. States with rates between 6% and 8% now offer up to 59 weeks. And all other states currently offer up to 46 weeks.
Lowest rates: North Dakota again posted the lowest jobless rate in September, at 4.2%. It was followed by South Dakota, with 4.8%; Nebraska, at 4.9%; and Utah, at 6.2%. Five states were tied for the next lowest rate of 6.7%.
Annual increases: All 50 states and the District of Columbia reported an increase in unemployment compared with September 2008.
Michigan reported the biggest year-over-year jump, at 6.4 percentage points.
Monthly decreases: Nineteen states reported declines in joblessness from August. Minnesota and Ohio each posted the biggest declines, at 0.7 percentage points, while rates in Oregon and Wisconsin both dipped by 0.5 percentage points.
