Job Market Monitor
Unemployment
Low Interest Rates Didn’t Induce Job Growth finds Research by St-Louis FED
The Federal Reserve set the target range for the federal funds rate at 0 to 25 basis points in December 2008. It has remained there because the recovery in output and jobs has been so slow. The rate was set so low to stimulate aggregate demand and job growth (by lowering borrowing costs for consumers … Continue reading
UK Gender Gap / Women Unemployment at 25-year high
Almost 1.5 million women could be unemployed by 2018 if the government’s current plans for job growth continue as planned, according to a new survey. Women’s unemployment is rising to a 25-year-high, while men’s is decreasing, with 60% of new private-sector jobs since the first quarter of 2010 going to men. The report by the … Continue reading
Illinois / The jobs crisis: only Nevada has a higher unemployment rate
The economic recovery in Illinois remains terribly weak. Our state has failed to make a strong comeback from the Great Recession that ended four years ago, in June 2009. We are falling further behind not just Texas, but practically every other state — including states such as Indiana that can make stronger arguments for luring … Continue reading
Tennessee / State closing 34 career centers
About 125 employees of the state Department of Labor and Workforce Development have been told their jobs are being eliminated and career job services will no longer be provided at 34 locations across the state. Jeff Hentschel, spokesman for the agency, said most of the affected employees were told of the layoffs in a meeting … Continue reading
US / The Job Gap and the Skills Gap
We’d be serving the present and the future. Here’s one example how: Today states are slashing budgets for community colleges, just when every good job requires more skill. That is truly cutting off our thumbs to lose weight. Last week, I interviewed Gary Green, the president of Forsyth Technical Community College, in Winston-Salem, N.C., with … Continue reading
US / We are creating a permanent class of jobless Americans writes Krugman
There is, unfortunately, growing evidence that the tainting of the long-term unemployed is happening as we speak. One piece of evidence comes from the relationship between job openings and unemployment. Normally these two numbers move inversely: the more job openings, the fewer Americans out of work. And this traditional relationship remains true if we look … Continue reading
Sequester / The End Long-Term Unemployment Benefits In 11 States
States are having such a hard time implementing congressional cuts to long-term unemployment insurance that some workforce agencies might just cancel the benefits altogether. The federal budget cuts known as sequestration require states to trim federal benefits known as Emergency Unemployment Compensation by roughly 10 percent. But what would seem like a simple administrative procedure … Continue reading
BLS ‘understates the unemployment rate’ says Obama’s Labor nominee
Thomas Perez, President Obama’s nominee to lead the Labor Department, told Congress today that the Bureau of Labor Statistics is “understat[ing]” the national unemployment rate. “The labor force participation is at one of the lowest levels,” Perez told Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., during his confirmation hearing today, adding that “7.6 percent doesn’t take into account … Continue reading
UK / Youth unemployment and the growing failure of education
Unemployment is up by 0.2 per cent to 7.9 per cent. Long term unemployment is on the rise. Youth unemployment is up again, this time by 20,000. Any semblance of a jobs recovery is only visible in low wage sectors feeding into a clear wage squeeze, with the slowest growth in earnings since 2009. A … Continue reading
Netherlands / Unemployment tops 8%
The official Dutch unemployment figure reached a new high of 8.1% in March, according to the latest figures from the national statistics office CBS. In total, 643,000 people are without a job, an average increase of 24,000 a month since the start of the year. The sharpest rise was among people aged 25 to 45, … Continue reading
US / ‘Price stability’ remains the policy advice even in the face of serious labor market inefficiencies says St. Louis Fed’s Bullard
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis President James Bullard gave remarks Wednesday on “Some Unpleasant Implications for Unemployment Targeters” at the 22nd Annual Hyman P. Minsky Conference. During his presentation, Bullard noted that the U.S. unemployment rate remains high by historical standards and that it has declined about 0.7 percentage points per year from its … Continue reading
Namibia / Govt working on a new National Employment Policy
The Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare is working with a multi-sectoral taskforce to develop a new National Employment Policy. The new policy will place special emphasis on ‘green jobs’ and how to link these with other elements for employment creation. “A Green Economy is an area where economic growth and employment creation is possible … Continue reading
UK / Unemployment rises to 2.56 million
UK unemployment rose by 70,000 to 2.56 million between December and February, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) has said. It pushed the unemployment rate to 7.9%, raising further questions about the UK’s economic strength. The number of people in employment also fell, while earnings growth slowed considerably, according to ONS data. But there was … Continue reading
Unemployment has been a much bigger problem than inflation for ordinary people research finds
“Previous literature has found that both unemployment and inflation lower happiness” write David G. Blanchflower, David N.F. Bell, Alberto Montagnoli and Mirko Moro in The effects of macroeconomic shocks on well-being (Adapted chosen excerpts by Job Market Monitor to follow). The macroeconomist Arthur Okun characterised the negative effects of unemployment and inflation by the misery index – the sum of the … Continue reading
Unemployment benefits should encourage geographic mobility
Americans have always been willing to move to look for better economic opportunities, and this willingness to relocate is a big factor in U.S. prosperity. Yet while everyone is free to move to look for a better life, not everyone takes advantage of the opportunity to the same degree. Some overdue changes in unemployment insurance … Continue reading
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