As the Great Depression shaped the attitudes of a generation from 1929 until the early years of World War II, so have the financial crisis and its aftermath affected the outlook of young consumers like Anselmo, said Cliff Zukin, a professor of public policy and political science at the Edward J Bloustein School of Planning … Continue reading
Cutbacks in Unemployment Insurance Ccme long before the Great Recession. Unemployed American are less and less insured. Statistics on insured unemployment in the United States are collected as a by-product of UI programs. Workers who lose their jobs and are covered by these programs typically file claims (“initial claims”) that serve as notice that they … Continue reading
by Daniel Altman. Excerpt: When Americans go to the polls this November, they’ll be looking for some payback. The Great Recession supposedly ended in June 2009, but what followed was hardly the kind of bounce that usually put the economy back on its feet. Rather, in the following two years the economy produced about two … Continue reading
Companies may not have to send employees a warning of potential layoffs because of possible across-the-board budget cuts next January, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. Under the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act, companies with more than 100 employees are required to send out notices at least 60 days before potential layoffs … Continue reading
Information received since the Federal Open Market Committee met in June suggests that economic activity decelerated somewhat over the first half of this year. Growth in employment has been slow in recent months, and the unemployment rate remains elevated… The Committee expects economic growth to remain moderate over coming quarters and then to pick up … Continue reading
The Obama administration says one reason the U.S. economic recovery has been so slow is that it is still suffering from the aftermath of the financial crisis. But the U.S. is not the first country to suffer a recession and a financial crisis. And the U.S. recovery is doing worse than all of them. In … Continue reading
The orchestra stunned the arts community when it became the first major U.S. orchestra to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in April 2011. Under the reorganization plan, the 111-year-old symphony will shrink from 105 musicians to 95 and cut their pay by about 15 percent. The orchestra also got a break on its rent … Continue reading
Not all college degrees are created equal. This is according to a recent report by Georgetown University’s Center on Education and the Workforce. The major you choose could reduce your chances of being part of the latest unemployment statistic—or make you the newest member of the club. It would be in your best interest to … Continue reading
The black unemployment rate stands currently at 14.4%. Blacks usually bare the burden of any increase in unemployment, as they are usually the first laid off as the economy sours and turns downward and are the last recalled as the economy turns upward. This to some extent is reflected in the current unemployment rate figures … Continue reading
Fear is one of the biggest barriers to the federal government hiring more people with disabilities. That fear comes from managers not knowing how a person with disabilities can do their job — even if they are qualified, said Kathy Martinez, assistant secretary of Labor for the Office of Disability Employment Policy. “What happens when … Continue reading
A specter haunts the job market. You’ve witnessed it on the campaign trail. You’ve seen it on TV. It is the idea that the skills of U.S. workers don’t match the needs of the nation’s employers. This “skills mismatch” is routinely held up to explain why the unemployment rate is still at 8.2% three years … Continue reading
Greece is in a “Great Depression” similar to the American one in the 1930s, the country’s Prime Minister Antonis Samaras told former U.S. President Bill Clinton on Sunday. Samaras was speaking two days before a team of Greece’s international lenders arrive in Athens to push for further cuts needed for the debt-laden country to qualify … Continue reading
The search for skills has been a daunting task for U.S. companies trying to find the right person to fill well paying and highly skilled jobs. Despite high unemployment rates, many employers report they’re struggling in the job matching process, frequently complaining that there’s a mismatch between the available domestic workforce and the skills they … Continue reading
The U.S. economy is working its way back from the Great Recession. One indication has been that unemployment insurance claims have steadily fallen since September and they are now at the same level as in March of 2008. Additionally, layoffs are at the same level as in 2006. We also recently learned that the ratio … Continue reading
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