In the week ending July 14, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 386,000, an increase of 34,000 from the previous week’s revised figure of 352,000. The 4-week moving average was 375,500, a decrease of 1,500 from the previous week’s revised average of 377,000. (SEASONALLY ADJUSTED DATA) The advance seasonally adjusted insured … Continue reading
Do we expect the jobs that resulted from the housing boom to once again come to the rescue of low-wage Americans? The run-up in home prices that triggered the jump in construction and local spending was relatively short-lived, and home prices have returned to the levels where one might expect them to be, based on … Continue reading
Of all the mediocre and bad news in the June 2012 employment situation report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, there is one item that deserves serious concern: the fact that long-term unemployment continues to plague the labor market. The average duration of unemployment is stuck at about 40 weeks, where it has been for … Continue reading
Our persistently high unemployment rate is not only bad for the economy, it’s bad for our bodies and souls as well. Unemployment wears down the unemployed both mentally and physically. But high unemployment also hurts those with jobs, as some workers worry endlessly (and not without justification) that they too could be let go at … Continue reading
For March to May 2012: The employment rate for those aged from 16 to 64 was 70.7 per cent, up 0.3 on the quarter. There were 29.35 million people in employment aged 16 and over, up 181,000 on the quarter. The unemployment rate was 8.1 per cent of the economically active population, down 0.2 on the … Continue reading
Stumbling and Mumbling chart below puts today’s unemployment data into long-term historical perspective. Using Bank of England data, it shows the unemployment rate since 1855. What stands out here is that a highish rate of joblessness is quite normal. It is the 1945-73 period of full employment (for men!) that is historically odd, not today’s … Continue reading
The latest unemployment figures show that the number of over 65s in work has risen by 52,000 to reach 929,000, the highest number since records began in 1992. Yet in the same period, youth unemployment has fallen by just 10,000. (It is now 21.9%, meaning over 1 in 5 under 24s is jobless.) In response … Continue reading
The arrival of Airbus in Mobile will make a measurable impact on the city’s economy, enough to render the city, and even the entire state, better bets for lenders, according to a recent report by Moody’s Investor Service, a rating agency. While the company did not officially adjust its investment-grade, Aa2 rating for the city, … Continue reading
Single mothers are raising more of America’s children than ever before. And for many of them, the economic precipice is creeping closer and closer. For decades the number of single-parent families has climbed higher, with the overwhelming majority of these households led by women. In 1960, just 5 million children under 18 lived with only … Continue reading
…Given that growth is projected to be not much above the rate needed to absorb new entrants to the labor force, the reduction in the unemployment rate seems likely to be frustratingly slow. Indeed, the central tendency of participants’ forecasts now has the unemployment rate at 7 percent or higher at the end of 2014… … Continue reading
Just like in the 1930s, when the Great Depression caused youth unemployment to hit the 50% levels in Germany, the current financial crisis is wreaking havoc on young people. Young people are always hardest hit due to their lack of work experience. This is now accentuated as the youngster from Athens competes directly against the … Continue reading
A conservative attorney points out that more Americans have been put on disability than jobs were created during President Obama’s tenure. Since June 2009, the economy has created 2.6 million jobs, while 3.1 million workers signed up for disability benefits. That includes the month of June 2012, when 85,000 workers joined the disability program and … Continue reading
U.S. unemployment, as measured by Gallup without seasonal adjustment, was 7.9% in mid-July, down 0.1 percentage points from June and May. Gallup’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate also declined 0.1 points, to 7.7% in mid-July. via U.S. Unemployment Down Slightly in Mid-July.
For March to May 2012: The employment rate for those aged from 16 to 64 was 70.7 per cent, up 0.3 on the quarter. There were 29.35 million people in employment aged 16 and over, up 181,000 on the quarter. The unemployment rate was 8.1 per cent of the economically active population, down 0.2 on the … Continue reading
If the U.S. is to cut unemployment to about 4.5 percent, which most economists consider to be full employment, the nation must ultimately create more than 16 million new jobs across the entire economy. That is in addition to finding jobs for the 12 million net new entrants into the work force, which the Labor … Continue reading