IRP Poverty Dispatch » Employment

States’ October Jobless Rates

townsend — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 21:55:57 +0000

Cautious optimism as job losses slow, By Lisa Lambert, November 20, 2009, Washington Post: “The pace of job losses slowed in many U.S. states in October, and the unemployment rate slipped in hard-hit Michigan, the Labor Department said on Friday, hinting the recession may be easing in some areas. Michigan’s jobless rate fell to 15.1 percent in October from 15.3 percent in September, although it remains the highest in the United States. The rate in Nevada, the second-highest, dipped to 13 percent from 13.3 percent. Rhode Island was close behind at 12.9 percent, followed by California at 12.5 percent…”
Most states see higher jobless rates, By Jeff Bater, November 20, 2009, Wall Street Journal: “Unemployment rose in 29 states in the U.S. during October, hinting the threat posed by weak labor markets to the economic recovery might be growing. Labor Department data Friday said 29 states and the District of Columbia recorded unemployment-rate increases from the prior month, while 13 states had rate decreases, and eight states had no rate change. A month earlier, Labor had said 23 states and the District of Columbia reported over-the-month unemployment rate increases in September, while 19 had decreases and eight states had no rate change…”

Extension of Jobless Benefits

townsend — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 21:09:15 +0000

Jobless benefits set to expire unless Congress acts, By Erik Eckholm, November 18, 2009, New York Times: “About one million laid-off workers will see their unemployment benefits end in January unless Congress acts quickly to renew existing federally paid extensions, according to a new survey and legislators and state officials. The record-long extension of emergency benefits that was hastily signed into law on Nov. 6 was widely praised as an essential lifeline for the hundreds of thousands of Americans who had spent a year or more in fruitless searches for jobs. The new law provided up to 14 weeks of federally paid aid to unemployed people who had exhausted existing state and federal limits, benefits that already extended up to 79 weeks in many states. And for the majority of states with particularly high unemployment, it added an additional six weeks of payments, bringing the potential total to 99 weeks…”
Extension of jobless benefits won’t help many, By Jane M. Von Bergen, November 17, 2009, Philadelphia Inquirer: “On the same day the U.S. Labor Department reported that the unemployment rate had reached a landmark 10.2 percent, President Obama signed a law extending unemployment benefits by up to 20 weeks in some states, including Pennsylvania and New Jersey. ‘I was so relieved,’ said Dawn Brown, 41, a mother of two from North Wales who lost her market-data research job in June. ‘It just took all the worry away.’ But the new law won’t help Brown at all - or anybody else who has been laid off since late June. Not only that, but, as written, no one in Pennsylvania, New Jersey or any of the nation’s other high-unemployment states will be eligible for the last six weeks of the 20-week extension. It’s all a matter of timing. And the timing is tricky…”
Jobless Tennesseans won’t get as many extra benefits, By Bonna Johnson, November 18, 2009, The Tennessean: “Additional unemployment benefits that Congress approved for the jobless earlier this month won’t be as sweet as most people expected due to fine print in the law. The upshot is that instead of 20 weeks of extra benefits at a maximum of $300 a week, many Tennesseans probably will draw only 14 more weeks - on top of 79 weeks previously received - before the aid runs out due to a Dec. 31 cutoff date. The mix-up is confusing and confounding to many jobless workers who have exhausted or are about to run out of their government aid. Approximately 35,500 Tennesseans getting unemployment checks could be affected. Still, some people said they’re just happy to be getting anything…”

Joblessness and Unemployment

townsend — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 21:43:55 +0000

Job woes exacting a toll on family life, By Michael Luo, November 11, 2009, New York Times: “Paul Bachmuth’s 9-year-old daughter, Rebecca, began pulling out strands of her hair over the summer. His older child, Hannah, 12, has become noticeably angrier, more prone to throwing tantrums. Initially, Mr. Bachmuth, 45, did not think his children were terribly affected when he lost his job nearly a year ago. But now he cannot ignore the mounting evidence. ‘I’m starting to think it’s all my fault,’ Mr. Bachmuth said. As the months have worn on, his job search travails have consumed the family, even though the Bachmuths were outwardly holding up on unemployment benefits, their savings and the income from the part-time job held by Mr. Bachmuth’s wife, Amanda. But beneath the surface, they have been a family on the brink. They have watched their children struggle with behavioral issues and a stress-induced disorder. He finally got a job offer last week, but not before the couple began seeing a therapist to save their marriage…”
Job losses both deep and enduring, especially for the young, By Floyd Norris, November 13, 2009, New York Times: “The rise in unemployment that has occurred in the current recession has been hardest on young workers, while having a smaller effect on older workers than previous downturns. Women have been more likely than men to hold on to their jobs. The overall unemployment rate, which reached 10.2 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis last month, remains below the post-World War II peak of 10.8 percent, reached in late 1982. But the proportion of workers who have been out of work for a long time is higher now than it has ever been since the Great Depression. The persistence of joblessness for so many people - 5.6 million Americans have now been out of work for more than half a year even though they have continued to seek employment - may provide the greatest challenge for the Obama administration if it decides to seek a new economic stimulus program…”

Paid Sick Leave and H1N1

townsend — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 21:30:48 +0000

Swine flu: Without paid sick leave, workers won’t stay home, By Patrik Jonsson, November 8, 2009, Christian Science Monitor: “Nearly half of all American workers do not have paid sick leave, and half of these are more likely to go to work feeling unwell - or send an ill child to school - rather than take an unpaid day off. These findings threaten to undermine President Obama’s effort to have anyone exhibiting swine-flu-like symptoms stay at home for as many as four days. The emphasis on prevention and individual responsibility is a welcome departure from the punitive government actions - such as quarantines and forced vaccinations - called for under previous pandemic-response plans, some health experts say. But for the 48 percent of Americans without paid sick leave, the policy presents a choice between two equally undesirable options: stay at home and lose money or go to work despite government exhortations not to. Businesses, too, say the situation leads to so-called ‘presenteeism,’ or the act of going to work while unwell, costing the economy $180 million a year, by one estimate…”
Lawmakers call for emergency sick-leave requirement, By Joe Markman, November 11, 2009, Los Angeles Times: “Against the backdrop of the H1N1 flu pandemic, congressional Democrats are pushing for emergency sick-leave legislation and using the crisis to garner support for a wider-ranging bill — both of which, they say, would help prevent a more rapid spread of the virus by mandating that employers provide workers with paid time off. Sen. Christopher J. Dodd (D-Conn.), chairing a health subcommittee hearing Tuesday, said that requiring businesses with 15 or more employees to offer seven paid days off a year would end a dangerous choice ‘between staying healthy and making ends meet.’ But some conservatives argue that Democrats are using a public health crisis as momentum for faulty legislation that would harm businesses by inviting abuse by workers…”

TANF Job Training Program - Washington, DC

townsend — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 22:36:08 +0000

Job training by D.C. welfare program is criticized, By Henri E. Cauvin, November 12, 2009, Washington Post: “At a time when unemployment is hitting the District hard, a new review of the city’s welfare program has found that it is pushing recipients to work but is not providing the skills and support they need to land decent-paying jobs. The study of the District’s Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program concluded that although the city has opportunities for substantive educational and vocational training, TANF recipients are too often kept in the dark about such help…”

Low-wage Work, Unemployment, and Household Debt

townsend — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 21:31:00 +0000

Unemployment tops 10 percent again _ and it’s tougher off the job than a generation ago, By Jeannine Aversa (AP), November 7, 2009, Chicago Tribune: “It hurts more to be unemployed now than the last time the jobless rate hit 10 percent. Americans have more than triple the debt they had in 1982, and less than half the savings. They spend 10 weeks longer off the job. And a bigger share of them have no health insurance, leaving them one medical emergency away from financial ruin. For these reasons, the unemployed are more vulnerable today to foreclosure and bankruptcy than they were a generation ago…”
Debt levels leave low paid at risk of homelessness, By Nick Mathiason, November 11, 2009, The Guardian: “Britain’s 14.3 million low earners are in danger of being sucked into a whirlpool of poverty as official figures are expected to show today that the number of unemployed has passed through 2.5 million for the first time in 15 years. Research by the insurance tycoon Clive Cowdery’s thinktank, Resolution Foundation, shows low-income households - with an average of £15,800 at their disposal - are walking an increasingly precarious financial tightrope. It has found that 24% of low-wage households spend more than a quarter of their monthly income on debt - twice the number from three years ago. The study shows nearly a third of low-income households have high loan-to-value mortgages and are in negative equity, making them vulnerable to homelessness if they lose their job…”

Unemployment Rate and Jobless Benefits

townsend — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 20:14:58 +0000

Unemployment rate rises above 10%; Obama signs jobless benefit extension, By Don Lee, November 6, 2009, Los Angeles Times: “As the nation’s unemployment rate surged to 10.2% in October, reaching double digits for the first time in 26 years, President Obama signed a measure today providing additional aid for the jobless as well as expanding and extending a home buyer tax credit to help spur economic growth. ‘The need for such a measure was made clear by the jobs report we just received this morning,’ Obama said at the White House. He called the Labor Department figure released today ‘a sobering number that underscores the economic challenges that lie ahead.’ The unexpectedly sharp increase in the unemployment rate, from 9.8% in September, came as employers dropped 190,000 workers from their payrolls last month. That was larger than the 175,000 job losses that most forecasters were expecting for the month, and it underscored just how dire the labor market remains despite the recent upturn in the nation’s economic output…”
U.S. unemployment rate hits 10.2%, highest in 26 years, By Peter S. Goodman, November 6, 2009, New York Times: “The American unemployment rate surged to 10.2 percent in October, its highest level in 26 years, as the economy lost another 190,000 jobs, the Labor Department reported Friday. The jump into the realm of double-digit joblessness - from 9.8 percent in September - provided a sobering reminder that, despite the apparent end of the Great Recession, economic expansion has yet to translate into jobs, leaving tens of millions of people still struggling…”

States and Unemployment Benefits

townsend — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 19:34:00 +0000

Adjusted state unemployment rate hits 17.2%, By Howard Fischer, October 27, 2009, East Valley Tribune: “Arizonans have been told for months now that the state jobless rate is hovering in the low 9 percent range. But it turns out that’s pretty much only half the story - literally. New federal figures show Arizona’s real unemployment situation is already in double digits - 17.2 percent - when also accounting for people who are “underemployed” because they can’t find full-time work and discouraged Arizonans who have given up their job search…”
State snafu stiffs unemployed, By Edward Mason, October 30, 2009, Boston Herald: “Thousands of desperate jobless Bay Staters - at the end of their ropes and unemployment benefits - thought the state had tossed them a lifeline when new checks arrived in the mail, only to learn it was all a big mistake and now they have to give the money back. The state Division of Unemployment Assistance mistakenly sent checks totaling $3.4 million to 4,159 out-of-work residents who’d exhausted their benefits, thanks to a glitch in the office’s archaic computer system, the Herald has learned…”
Poor Unemployment Insurance planning adds extra burden to Conn., South Dakota employers, By Olga Pierce, October 26, 2009, ProPublica: “Employers in Connecticut and South Dakota face hefty tax increases in the midst of a recession because their states’ unemployment insurance trust funds ran dry last week. The two states, like many others, have solvency taxes — a special tax increase that kicks in when their trust fund balance goes below a set amount…”
Benefit checks are on the way, By Yvonne Wenger, October 29, 2009, Charleston Post and Courier: “It’s official: the state Legislature fixed an oversight Wednesday that will send tens of millions of dollars to unemployed workers. Gov. Mark Sanford will sign the bill today and residents could receive a check within a week. The Legislature returned in special session this week to change wording in a law that will allow federal stimulus funds to provide an additional five months of unemployment benefits to out-of-work residents…”

Unemployment and Underemployment - California

townsend — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 21:36:30 +0000

Underemployed compound state’s jobless troubles, By Tom Abate, October 26, 2009, San Francisco Chronicle: “San Francisco resident Elena Duran represents an unfortunate job trend that isn’t reflected in the unemployment rate. For years, Duran has been a full-time server at a downtown hotel. But the recession has cut so deeply into business that her hours were cut to half time in July. ‘It’s better than a layoff, but it still requires a lot of sacrifices,’ said Duran, who, along with her working husband, supports three sons. Because she works, Duran doesn’t count in California’s 12.2 percent unemployment rate. But her situation is captured by a broader measure, the underemployment rate, which, in addition to the jobless, includes people who could get only part-time work as well as those who want jobs but were too discouraged to look…”

Welfare-to-Work Program and Work Requirements - North Carolina

townsend — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 20:51:09 +0000

Aid program will demand more, By Lynn Bonner, October 23, 2009, News and Observer: “The state’s 15-year-old welfare program, Work First, will begin living up to its name this year by requiring adult recipients to work, go to school, or job hunt before they get their monthly benefits checks. A handful of counties already have a “pay after performance” rule. The state Department of Health and Human Services made the pay rule a statewide policy this month, though it sent out payments as usual a few weeks ago to give the 8,900 households that have to live by the new policy a month to adapt to the change. Adults in this group have agreements with their counties that say they will work, look for work or attend classes for a set amount of time each month. In the past, recipients got their money whether or not they stuck to the plan. In November, payments won’t be automatic anymore, and social workers will expect recipients to show that they’ve complied, or have a good reason for not following through, before they get their money. The state made the change because it falls short of federal goals for getting welfare recipients working or on a steady path toward getting jobs…”

September 2009 Unemployment Rate

townsend — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 20:33:42 +0000

23 states report higher unemployment in September, By Christopher S. Rugaber (AP), October 21, 2009, Washington Post: “Unemployment rose in 23 states last month as the economy struggled to create jobs in the early stages of the recovery. While layoffs have slowed, companies remain reluctant to hire. Forty-three states reported job losses in September, while only seven gained jobs, the Labor Department said Wednesday. Wednesday’s report underscores the uneven nature of the recovery. The unemployment rate dropped in some Midwestern states as the manufacturing sector improved. But Florida and Nevada, two of the states hit hardest by the housing slump, reported record-high jobless rates. Some of the states that lost jobs still saw their unemployment rates improve, as discouraged workers gave up looking for work. People who are out of work but no longer looking for jobs aren’t counted as officially unemployed…”

Youth Poverty and Unemployment - Detroit, MI

townsend — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 21:38:31 +0000

Youth face uphill struggle amid Detroit’s troubles, By Corey Williams (AP), October 17, 2009, Washington Post: “Like the rundown houses and shuttered storefronts in his Detroit neighborhood, bleakness abounds in LeRoy Taylor’s future. He is among tens of thousands reaching adulthood in a city where the American Dream appears just outside their reach. Taylor, 20, spends empty hours on basketball courts, zoned out in front of a television or aimlessly pedaling through streets he desperately wants to leave, but doesn’t have the work skills, education or money to do so. ‘I fill out applications. No one will call me back,’ said Taylor, stopping his bike long enough to hustle change for cigarettes near a west side bus stop. ‘It’s useless. It’s real scary.’ Too few jobs are only part of the problems facing youths in this troubled city. Its public high schools are considered among the nation’s worst. Planned budget cuts to the recreation department will reduce hours and slash into staffing. Then there’s crime…”

Extension of Unemployment Benefits - South Carolina

townsend — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 21:35:10 +0000

State botched chance for aid, By Katy Stech, October 16, 2009, Charleston Post and Courier: “Thousands of out-of-work South Carolinians will miss out on five months of unemployment checks because state officials failed to tweak a rule enabling them to tap into federal stimulus money. The state’s high jobless rate, one of the worst in the country at 11.5 percent, means some unemployed residents could be receiving an additional 20 weeks of checks when they run out of their current state and federal benefits. More than 113,000 South Carolina unemployed residents already have exhausted their benefits. To get access to the additional money, state lawmakers needed to pass temporary changes to the economic index they use to trigger additional emergency benefits in times of unprecedented financial hardship. No bill was ever proposed. South Carolina is one of two states eligible for the most generous benefits but is not receiving them. The other is Mississippi…”
Leaders aim to fix benefits, By Katy Stech, October 17, 2009, Charleston Post and Courier: “State lawmakers scrambled Friday to figure out if they could fix an oversight that has cost thousands of out-of-work South Carolinians extended unemployment benefits. Senate President Pro Tem Glenn McConnell and House Speaker Bobby Harrell said they support fixing the problem, which could involve calling a special session of the General Assembly, and deployed their staffs to determine the cheapest, easiest way to make the necessary changes to the law. ‘It’s an open-ended question at this point,’ said McConnell, who expects his staff will come up with an answer early next week. Calling a special session, by McConnell’s estimate, would cost about $17,000 but could bring the state tens of millions of dollars in federal money for unemployed residents. Meanwhile, federal policy experts indicated that, if the proper changes are made, some residents who missed out on earlier benefits could start receiving weekly paychecks again…”

Joblessness and Unemployment Insurance - Massachusetts

townsend — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 21:49:19 +0000

Unemployment at 33-year high; insurance fund running dry, By Kay Lazar and Robert Gavin, October 16, 2009, Boston Globe: “Unemployment in Massachusetts has reached its highest level since the 1970s, officials said yesterday as they also disclosed that the state will exhaust a fund that helps laid-off workers pay for health insurance by the end of next month. State officials said they are considering a number of emergency measures, including imposing higher costs on the unemployed and raising fees on employers, to close a gap that could exceed $50 million by April. ‘Every option is on the table,’ Labor and Workforce Development Secretary Suzanne Bump said in an interview after her staff briefed an advisory board of labor and business leaders yesterday. ‘Nothing stays the same.’ The unrelenting rise in unem ployment will also trigger an automatic 40 percent increase in the tax businesses are required to contribute for unemployment benefits. In January, the tax will increase from an average of $594 per employee to $832…”

Migrant Workers and Remittances

townsend — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 14:45:38 +0000

The aid workers who really help, October 8, 2009, The Economist: “As the dust settled after the attacks of September 11th 2001, officials in America and elsewhere started tracking cross-border flows of money from migrants, in the hope of nabbing terrorists. Remittance agencies were regulated more heavily; cash transfers from foreign workers were monitored. Not much was discovered about terrorism, but lots of new data emerged on the economics of migration. It was a happy side-effect. Over the past few years migration experts have gained a clearer view of how some 200m people working abroad affect the lives of compatriots who stay home. The impact, it turns out, is huge and benign. Obviously, migrants help their homelands by remitting cash on a vast scale. Armies of itinerant nannies, dishwashers, meatpackers and plumbers shift more capital to poorer countries than do Western aid efforts. (This may long have been true, but without the data who knew?) The World Bank says foreign workers sent $328 billion from richer to poorer countries last year, more than double the $120 billion in official aid flows from OECD members. India got $52 billion from its diaspora, more than it took in foreign direct investment…”

Decrease in Minimum Wage - Colorado

townsend — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 21:37:10 +0000

Colorado minimum wage set to fall, By Aldo Svaldi, October 13, 2009, Denver Post: “Colorado’s minimum wage is set to decline next year due to a decrease in the inflation rate during the first half of the year, according to an order from the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment. The new order would lower the state’s current hourly minimum of $7.28 to $7.24 on Jan. 1. Most employers, however, will still have to meet the federal minimum wage, which rose to $7.25 in July. For a full-time worker, going from $7.28 to the federal hourly minimum will result in a loss of $62.40 in income during the course of a year…”

Exhaustion of Jobless Benefits - New York

townsend — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 21:17:26 +0000

For long-term unemployed, payments near end, By Patrick McGeehan, October 11, 2009, New York Times: “Tens of thousands of New Yorkers have had the unfortunate distinction of collecting unemployment benefits longer than anyone in the state’s history. But last week, state officials began warning the long-term unemployed that Congress has not approved another extension of unemployment insurance payments. That lapse will leave about 37,000 residents of the state, like Robert C. Brannigan, without benefits this week, and will force others to contemplate applying for food stamps or other forms of welfare that they had never considered. Mr. Brannigan, a 26-year-old construction worker from Mastic, received his final weekly payment of $430 last week, but he still is No. 20 on a waiting list for jobs assigned by his union in Manhattan. When he checked the State Labor Department’s Facebook page for news about a pending extension, he found a video explaining how to apply for food stamps and other assistance from the state…”

Job Seekers and Internet Access

townsend — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 21:36:24 +0000

Some job seekers work without Net, By Steve Giegerich, October 9, 2009, St. Louis Post-Dispatch: “Two job-hunters, two stories. Laid-off marketing executive Michael Clutts fires up his computer and begins his online search for a new job at 8 each morning, a routine that continues - with interruptions to attend to meals and family matters - well into the night. It’s a process Gail Spencer knows well, ever since losing her job as a concierge at a downtown hotel last year after 21 years in the hospitality industry. But in order to avail herself of the online functions Clutts accesses countless times a day from the comfort of his home in Ballwin, Spencer must travel from her residence in Hanley Hills to libraries and career development centers that provide computers and Internet hook-ups…”

Jobless Benefits Exhaustion and Extension

townsend — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 22:12:30 +0000

Many Minnesotans at end of jobless benefits, By Dee DePass, October 5, 2009, Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune: “Former University of Minnesota plumber Keith Ferguson got his last unemployment check last week. Now the Maple Grove father of four, unemployed for 20 months, is wondering how he’ll pay child support and feed himself. It is a dilemma facing millions of unemployed Americans who have counted on as many as 79 weeks of government checks to help them make ends meet through the worst recession in decades. Almost 5.5 million workers have been unemployed for 27 weeks or longer, a record. In Minnesota, an estimated 1,000 people currently exhaust unemployment benefits each week, said Dan McElroy, Commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED). When the last federal extension expires the day after Christmas, the number will grow given that new job growth is expected to remain slow…”
Senate Dems reach deal on extending jobless benefits, By Jim Abrams (AP), October 8, 2009, Seattle Times: “Senate Democrats said Thursday they have reached a deal to extend unemployment insurance benefits to the nearly 2 million jobless workers across the country who are in danger of running out of assistance by the end of the year. The agreement would give an additional 14 weeks of benefits to jobless workers in all 50 states. Workers in states with an unemployment rate at 8.5 percent or above would receive six weeks on top of that. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., tried to bring the measure to a quick vote on the Senate floor, but Republicans objected, saying they needed more time to study the proposal and its costs and possibly offer amendments. The House last month approved legislation that gives 13 weeks of extended benefits, but only in those 27 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico that have unemployment rates of at least 8.5 percent…”

Welfare and Work Requirements - California

townsend — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 21:30:26 +0000

California’s zigzag on welfare rules worries experts, By Erik Eckholm, October 6, 2009, New York Times: “As he pressed state lawmakers over the summer to close a record budget deficit, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger lathered scorn on the state’s welfare-to-work program. He called it too lenient on the work requirement and overly generous in its benefits. At one point, he proposed eliminating it, then compromised to make it tougher. So Anna Zendejas, a welfare recipient in a farm town 50 miles west of here, was more than a little surprised to get a letter recently saying that she did not need to work to collect her check - in effect, a return to the much-derided welfare approach that existed before a national overhaul in the 1990s. It was no fluke. This fall, tens of thousands of Californians will be given a similar choice as the state embraces a startling reversal in some of its welfare policies for the next two years…”

Unemployment Safety Nets and Job Creation

townsend — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 21:16:30 +0000

Obama aides act to fix safety net, By Jackie Calmes, October 5, 2009, New York Times: “With unemployment expected to rise well into next year even as the economy slowly recovers, the Obama administration and Democratic leaders in Congress are discussing extending several safety net programs as well as proposing new tax incentives for businesses to renew hiring. President Obama’s economic team discussed a wide range of ideas at a meeting on Monday, following his Saturday radio address in which he said it would ‘explore additional options to promote job creation.’ But officials emphasized that a decision was still far off and that in any event the effort would not add up to a second economic stimulus package, only an extension of the first…”
States offer route for jobs spending, By Gerald F. Sieb, October 6, 2009, Wall Street Journal: “The really bad news for Democrats isn’t that the unemployment rate hit 9.8% last week. The really bad news for the party in power is that the last time unemployment reached that level, it was there or higher for exactly one year. That was between July 1982 and June 1983. If you are thinking of this precedent in political terms, it is important to note that smack in the middle of that dreary stretch, the party then in control — the Republicans — lost 26 House seats in the 1982 midterm elections. Today’s downturn is even harsher, and there is some evidence that the American job-creating machine doesn’t work quite as well now as it did then, even in good times…”

September 2009 Unemployment Rate

townsend — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 17:58:48 +0000

Jobs report highlights uncertainty of U.S. recovery, By Peter S. Goodman, October 2, 2009, New York Times: “The American economy lost 263,000 jobs in September - far more than expected - and the unemployment rate rose to 9.8 percent, the government reported on Friday, dimming prospects of any meaningful job growth by the end of the year. The Labor Department’s monthly snapshot of unemployment suggested that the economy was plodding through a faltering recovery that could pose big challenges to lawmakers worried about a growing public outcry over both big government deficits and high unemployment. The numbers could intensify pressure on Congress to provide additional unemployment benefits and extend some programs that are set to expire toward the end of the year, such as tax credit for first-time homebuyers and health-insurance subsidies for people who lose their jobs…”

Teenage Job Program

townsend — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 16:36:33 +0000

Teens lack jobs despite job effort, By Garance Burke (AP), September 23, 2009, Washington Post: “The Obama administration’s economic stimulus program to find jobs for thousands of teenagers this summer couldn’t overcome one of the bleakest job markets in more than 60 years that had desperate adults competing for the same kind of work. Almost one-quarter of the 297,169 youths in the $1.2 billion jobs program didn’t get jobs, as more adults flooded the labor market seeking similar low-wage positions at hamburger stands and community pools, according to an Associated Press review of government data and reports from states. Congressional auditors warned Wednesday that the government’s plans to measure the success of the federal program are so haphazard that they ‘may reveal little about what the program achieved.’ The new report from the Government Accountability Office also said many government officials, employers and participants believe the program was successful…”

Jobless Claims and Benefits

townsend — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 16:32:26 +0000

Unemployment claims slide continues, By Hibah Yousuf, September 24, 2009, CNNMoney.com: “New filings for unemployment insurance fell for a third straight week, the government said Thursday, surprising economists. There were 530,000 initial claims filed in the week ended Sept. 19, down 21,000 from a revised 551,000 the previous week, the Labor Department said in a weekly report…”
Initial jobless claims decline for third straight week, By David Grant, September 24, 2009, Christian Science Monitor: “The number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits dropped last week to 530,000, down 21,000 from the previous week. The 530,000 mark - the third lowest number of claims in 2009 and the lowest since the week ending July 11 - surprised many analysts, who had expected the number of claims to remain the same or even tick up slightly. There was also a decline of 123,000 in the number of Americans receiving unemployment benefits, bringing that total down to 6.1 million for the week ending Sept 12, the last week for which information is available…”
State Labor leaders want jobless benefits extended, By Denise Jewell Gee, September 24, 2009, Buffalo News: “The state labor commissioner warned today that the cost of supporting unemployed workers could fall to state and local governments if federal lawmakers do not extend unemployment benefits. M. Patricia Smith joined labor leaders from 17 other states to call on Congress to extend unemployment insurance benefits an additional 13 weeks…”

Extension of Unemployment Benefits

townsend — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 20:36:25 +0000

House moves to extend unemployment benefits, By Jim Abrams (AP), September 21, 2009, Atlanta Journal-Constitution: “Despite predictions the Great Recession is running out of steam, the House is taking up emergency legislation this week to help the millions of Americans who see no immediate end to their economic miseries. A bill offered by Rep. Jim McDermott, D-Wash., and expected to pass easily would provide 13 weeks of extended unemployment benefits for more than 300,000 jobless people who live in states with unemployment rates of at least 8.5 percent and who are scheduled to run out of benefits by the end of September…”

Job Losses and Homelessness

townsend — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 21:17:28 +0000

Suddenly shocked by life in a shelter, By Alfred Lubrano, September 18, 2009, Philadelphia Inquirer: “Frank Marshall remembers the moment he transformed from unemployed security guard to homeless man. ‘The walk toward my room at the shelter was surreal,’ he said. ‘I pinched myself to believe it was happening.’ Shoehorning himself into a 14-by-10-foot room with three other bewildered men in the Salvation Army’s Railton House in West Chester, Marshall, 48, lay on a narrow bed that looked like a boy’s and stared at the ceiling. On it, he projected images of the life he’d lost: job, apartment, girlfriend. Marshall, who always thought the homeless were drug addicts or schizophrenics, was dumbfounded. ‘There are days when my faith is lacking,’ said Marshall, a Roman Catholic from Phoenixville who is unmarried with no children. ‘This is unbelievable.’ Though the economy is improving, hard times grind on, and many people who lost jobs near the beginning of the downturn are facing the ultimate consequence of unemployment: homelessness. Tomorrow, the maximum of 79 weeks of unemployment benefits and extensions will end for 20,000 in Pennsylvania and 45,000 in New Jersey, officials said. An additional 14,000 Pennsylvanians will exhaust all benefits by next Saturday…”

State Unemployment Rates

townsend — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 21:10:07 +0000

Jobless rate tops 12% in 5 states, By Julianne Pepitone, September 18, 2009, CNNMoney.com: “Five states posted jobless rates above 12% in August, according to federal data released Friday. California, Nevada and Rhode Island each hit record-high rates, the Labor Department said. Michigan led the nation in unemployment, with a rate of 15.2%, while Nevada was next at 13.2% and Rhode Island was third at 12.8%. California and Oregon were tied for the fourth spot, each with unemployment at 12.2%…”
California’s unemployment rate rises to 12.2%, By Alana Semuels, September 18, 2009, Los Angeles Times: “Despite signs that an economic recovery has begun in the state, California’s unemployment rate set a new postwar high of 12.2% in August, up from 11.9% in July. California has the fourth-highest unemployment rate in the nation; only Michigan, Nevada and Rhode Island, at 15.2%, 13.2% and 12.8%, respectively, have higher rates than California. Still, there was some positive news in the figures released today by the California Economic Development Department. California lost only 12,300 jobs last month, compared with 38,900 jobs in July…”
At 12.2 percent, unemployment in Calif. highest since 1940, By Jennifer Steinhauer, September 18, 2009, New York Times: “California’s unemployment rate in August hit its highest point in nearly 70 years, starkly underscoring how the nation’s incipient economic recovery continues to elude millions of Americans looking for work. While job losses continue to fall, the new unemployment rate - 12.2 percent, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics - is far above the national average of 9.7 percent and places the country’s largest state fourth behind Michigan, Nevada and Rhode Island. Statistics kept by the state show California’s unemployment rate was 14.7 percent in 1940, according to Kevin Callori, a spokesman for the California Employment Development Department…”
R.I. jobless rate inches higher, By Alex Kuffner, September 18, 2009, Providence Journal: “Although economists say the worst of the recession may be over, the number of jobless workers in Rhode Island continues to grow. The state’s unemployment rate ticked up to 12.8 percent in August from what was a record high of 12.7 percent in July, according to a report issued Friday. The latest number is now the highest in Rhode Island since the federal government began keeping track of unemployed workers in 1976. Rhode Island’s jobless rate, the second-highest in the country in July, has been steadily climbing for 2½ years and it doesn’t appear to be slowing down…”
Nevada unemployment soars to record 13.2 percent, By Sandra Chereb, September 18, 2009, San Francisco Chronicle: “Nevada’s unemployment rate broke another record in August, soaring to 13.2 percent as the recession continues to hammer the state’s tourism-dominated economy, officials said Friday. ‘Signs of stabilization in the national economy are beginning to emerge,’ said William Anderson, chief economist with the Nevada Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation. ‘Some analysts even argue that the recession is likely over, or will be over in the near-term. However, such positive conclusions cannot be drawn in Nevada, based upon a current assessment of labor market and economic activity in the state,’ Anderson said in a written statement…”

Unemployment Rates in OECD Countries

townsend — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 21:17:08 +0000

High jobless rates could last years, O.E.C.D. warns, By Matthew Saltmarsh, September 16, 2009, New York Times: “Unless government programs for the unemployed are refined, there is a danger that high jobless rates will persist beyond 2010 in advanced economies, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development warned on Wednesday. ‘A recovery may be in sight,’ the group said in its annual employment outlook, referring to economic output. ‘But the short-term employment outlook is grim.’ The international organization said that unemployment among its 30 member nations would rise to nearly 10 percent by the end of 2010, above its previous post-1970 peak of 7.5 percent during the second quarter of 1993. Disadvantaged groups, like youths and immigrants as well as low-skilled and temporary workers, will bear the brunt of the increase…”

State Unemployment Systems and Jobless Benefits

townsend — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 21:50:36 +0000

17,000 state residents will get extended benefits if unemployment rate climbs high enough, By Janice Posada, September 14, 2009, Hartford Courant: “When Connecticut’s unemployment rate dipped to 7.8 percent in July from 8 percent in May and June, economists took it as a sign that recession-related job losses were finally starting to level off. But the slowing pace of unemployment, if it continues, could hurt about 17,000 jobless workers in the state. They would be eligible for seven additional weeks of federal unemployment benefits - but only if the jobless rate jumps to 8.2 percent in August…”
Soaring jobless rate taxes insurance system, By Eve Tahmincioglu, September 14, 2009, MSNBC.com: “Cynthia Paulson of Mesa, Ariz., made a mistake on her form when she filed for an extension on her unemployment benefits in July, and she fell into a bureaucratic black hole. Mike Dixon of Seattle put in for unemployment benefits after he lost his job as a software engineer, but his employer denied his claim, resulting in a delay of nearly two months in collecting any money. As the nation’s unemployment rate approaches 10 percent, Paulson and Dixon are just two of the hundreds of thousands of people dealing with bureaucratic delays in the nation’s increasingly stretched unemployment insurance system…”
Falling through jobless benefit crack, By Scott Whipple, September 14, 2009, Bristol Press: “Maybe you caught the special in late August on MSNBC. The network broadcast a chilling report on the estimated 1.5 million people on the verge of losing their jobless benefits. Though the unemployment compensation program has been extended over and over from the basic 26 weeks, the crack is widening and more people are falling through. In fact, the national Employment Law Project expects 540,000 people to fall out of the unemployment program by the end of this month…”
Congress should continue jobless benefits, Editorial, September 14, 2009, Detroit News: “Nearly 100,000 Michigan residents stand to lose their unemployment benefits at year’s end. Congress is working to extend those benefits and should do so. But Michigan businesses also have an unemployment crisis. They face hundreds of millions of dollars in new unemployment taxes and penalties in the next few years that could damage their recovery and slow the hiring of new workers. It’s a vicious circle that only Congress can fix. Normally, laid-off workers are entitled to 26 weeks of unemployment insurance. The cost of this insurance is covered by a tax levied by the state on all firms. Because of the severity of this recession, Congress has adopted special unemployment benefits covered from the federal treasury for workers. Together, employer-paid and federal benefits now add up to 79 weeks of unemployment coverage…”

Unemployment Benefits and Job Programs - Georgia, New Jersey

townsend — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 20:29:42 +0000

Ga. work program grows, attracts followers, By Christine Vestal, September 10, 2009, Stateline.org: “As states struggle to help legions of jobless workers find employment, some are seeking advice from Georgia, where a growing number of people are landing jobs as a result of free tryouts sponsored by the state unemployment system. The program, dubbed Georgia Works, is so simple that experts say other states should have no problem replicating it…”
As unemployment benefits run out, Jersey’s jobless wait for extension, By Trish G. Graber, September 11, 2009, Star-Ledger: “Unemployment insurance benefits will dry up for an estimated 33,000 New Jerseyans today, and the state estimates another 3,500 to 4,000 will receive final checks each week through the end of the year as residents exhaust their benefits. Help for the unemployed now rests with Congress, where pending legislation would extend benefits, probably for another 13 weeks. In the Garden State, and many other states, out-of-work residents can collect unemployment for 79 weeks. In New Jersey, the maximum weekly benefit is $584, and the federal stimulus law allows for an additional $25…”

Unemployment and Disabled Workers

townsend — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 22:06:45 +0000

Unemployed pushing out disabled residents for jobs, By Jessica Heffner, August 30, 2009, Oxford Press: “When Cheryl Callsen watches her 21-year-old son sit idle, she can see his frustration. ‘Andrew’s got a lot to offer and, like anyone else does, he gets bored sitting around all the time,’ she said of her son who was diagnosed with Asperger syndrome, which is on the high-functioning end of the autism spectrum. ‘He wants a job.’ But with so many people out of work, even entry-level jobs such as bagging groceries are hard to find. While nationally the unemployment rate is 9.4 percent, U.S. Census data puts that figure at more than 62 percent for those with disabilities…”
Too many students ‘graduate to the living room’, By Barbara Shelly, September 5, 2009, Kansas City Star: “Emily Thomas was born profoundly disabled. Doctors told her parents that if she lived, she might never so much as smile. ‘I wasted a lot of tears over that,’ says her mother, Cynthia Thomas. Emily, now 25, grins when presented with a hefty sandwich at an Overland Park café. She beams while riding the lift on her family’s new van. She exults when I hand her a business card. With a single encounter, I see what she means. Emily’s delight in life’s small moments is contagious. Cynthia and Ted Thomas always envisioned a full life for their daughter. They sought out schools with good special education programs. Despite hearing and vision impairments and cognitive and physical disabilities that require her to use a wheelchair, Emily gained skills and thrived in the daily routine of classes…”

Flu Planning and Sick Leave

townsend — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 21:44:15 +0000

Flu season: N.H. lawmakers may mandate paid sick days, By Michael McCord, September 8, 2009, Portsmouth Herald: “As concerns grow over the medical and economic impact of the H1N1 flu virus, a bill currently dormant in the New Hampshire Legislature to mandate paid sick leave may be revived by supporters. According to a state study in 2007, more than 50 percent of employers in New Hampshire had no paid sick leave policy for full-time employees and the number grew to 80 percent for part-time workers…”
Swine flu brings a quandary to the workplace, By L.M. Sixel, August 30, 2009, Houston Chronicle: “When Ben - along with more than two dozen of his classmates - got sick with the swine flu last spring, his north Houston elementary school closed for the rest of the year. His mother, Melinda Flannery, said she was lucky because her son never got really sick. It also helped, she said, that her boss at Rice University was supportive of the 2½ weeks she had to spend away from the office…”
Paid sick leave draws closer for city workers, By Jennifer 8. Lee, August 20, 2009, New York Times: “New York City could soon join San Francisco and Washington in requiring paid sick days for employees - a move that could affect as many as one million workers in the city. On Thursday, the City Council introduced legislation mandating that large employers give workers the ability to earn least nine paid sick days to workers per year, while small businesses who have fewer than 10 employees would earn five sick days…”
Swine flu fight: Keep sick kids at home, but parents need paid sick days, says hero school nurse, By Samuel Goldsmith, September 8, 2009, New York Daily News: “Keeping kids at home from school when they get sick is one of the most important ways to stop the spread of swine flu. But plenty of parents can’t skip a day of work to watch their children - and that worries the hero school nurse who first detected the virus in New York. The head nurse at St. Francis Preparatory - the Queens school that became the epicenter of swine flu in the spring - says New York City needs a law to force all employers to provide paid sick days…”

States and the Stimulus Emergency Fund for Needy Families

townsend — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 21:19:52 +0000

States: We can’t afford costs tied to $5B emergency fund, By Michael Grabell and Chris Flavelle, September 7, 2009, USA Today: “Many states are walking away from a $5 billion federal fund that some economists say is a swift and effective way to help people hurt by the recession and stimulate the economy. The states say they can’t collect their share of the emergency fund for needy families because they can’t afford to put up the 20% of costs required by the federal government. Six months after the money was made available under the $787 billion federal stimulus program, only 27 states have applied for funds, according to the U.S. Health and Human Services Department. Most have tapped only a small fraction of the money they’re entitled to - less than 15% in most cases. As a result, as much as $1 billion could be left on the table when the program ends in September 2010, estimates Jack Tweedie of the National Conference of State Legislatures. The fund can be used to help states cope with growing welfare caseloads, create temporary jobs for the unemployed, pay rent for families facing eviction and immediately put cash in people’s pockets…”

State Unemployment Insurance Systems - California, Wisconsin

townsend — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 20:55:50 +0000

Despite fixes, unemployment department still tough to reach for many, By Denis C. Theriault, September 7, 2009, San Jose Mercury News: “Despite an infusion of money and workers in recent months, the phone number that most out-of-work Californians rely on for questions about their unemployment benefits or missing checks remains swamped by millions of calls. Officials say it still takes about 17 tries before a live operator is reached at the state Employment Development Department and that nearly two-thirds of the 18.9 million calls received last month were rejected because the phone service was too busy…”
Wisconsin unemployment phone line dropped 86% of calls, By Ellen Gabler, September 6, 2009, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: “The voices taunt thousands of Wisconsin’s unemployed. Here’s what happens: Unemployed people call a hotline run by the Department of Workforce Development to check on their claims for unemployment benefits or to answer agency questions about their application. The calm, recorded voice of a woman says: ‘To speak with the next available claims specialist, press 0.’ But about 86% of the time, the caller is soon disconnected with a simple ‘Goodbye’ from the calm, recorded voice of a man. The callers still don’t know why their unemployment checks haven’t hit their bank account, and they can’t ask a live person any questions…”

Jobless Benefits for Workers Over 65 - Utah

townsend — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 20:51:28 +0000

Employers: No more break for Utah’s jobless seniors, By Tony Semerad, September 8, 2009, Salt Lake Tribune: “A political clash is brewing over a clause in Utah law that has big implications for the state’s growing population of jobless senior citizens. For the past five years, working Utahns over age 65 laid off through no fault of their own have been able to collect some unemployment benefits in addition to their Social Security retirement checks. But the law is set to expire halfway through 2010, meaning state legislators will have to wade into the controversy when they convene in January. Known on Capitol Hill as ‘the Social Security offset,’ the issue pits the powerful interests of Utah employers - — who pay for unemployment insurance — against those of the growing ranks of elderly Utahns who continue working past retirement age, or who have been forced to return to work after seeing their savings drained by the recession…”

Unemployment Rates and Exhaustion of Jobless Benefits

townsend — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 20:36:36 +0000

In unemployment report, signs of a jobless recovery, By Peter S. Goodman and Jack Healy, September 4, 2009, New York Times: “The American economy lost another 216,000 jobs in August and the unemployment rate jumped to 9.7 percent, amplifying worries that millions of households are likely to endure financial anxiety and lean times for months to come. As a technical matter, most economists believe that the United States has escaped the grip of recession, the longest since the Great Depression. The Labor Department’s latest employment report, released Friday, added weight to the view that economic expansion has resumed, marking a continued albeit modest improvement to the rate of lost jobs. Yet the report also lent credence to a growing consensus that the recovery is likely to be weak and fragile, prompting most companies to hold back from hiring aggressively…”
Jobless picture soon to worsen, By Tamara Lush (AP), September 4, 2009, Modesto Bee: “More than 1.3 million Americans’ unemployment insurance benefits will run out by the end of the year, placing extra strain on an economy that is just starting to recover from the worst downturn in a generation. Of the nation’s 14.5 million jobless, those whose benefits are drying up - in some cases after a record 18 months of government support - are the most unfortunate. In California, the state Economic Development Department said as many as 170,000 of the unemployed it serves are at risk of losing their benefits…”

Unemployment and Homelessness in Japan

townsend — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 21:36:55 +0000

Japan’s economic downturn pushes more onto streets, By Peter Ford, September 3, 2009, Christian Science Monitor: “By the time the police arrived at 7 a.m. last Monday to move him on from the Ikebukuro subway station where he had spent the night, Isao Ito had been awake for some time. He had been poring over the jobs section of a magazine, and he hadn’t slept well anyway. Newly arrived in the capital in search of work, he said, ‘I haven’t eaten or slept for three days. I’m alone, and I’m nervous about sleeping rough.’ Welcome to the global recession, Japanese style. As Mr. Ito has just found, perhaps nowhere else in the industrialized world is it so easy to slip from just getting by to utter destitution. Some 460,000 people have lost their jobs in Japan since the ‘Lehman shokku,’ as people here call it - the day last September when the collapse of Lehman Bros. bank triggered a worldwide financial crisis. Half of them, like Ito, were on temporary or part-time contracts that gave them no unemployment or other social security insurance…”

Low-wage Workers and Wage Violations by Employers

townsend — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 21:44:46 +0000

Low-wage workers are often cheated, study says, By Steven Greenhouse, September 1, 2009, New York Times: “Low-wage workers are routinely denied proper overtime pay and are often paid less than the minimum wage, according to a new study based on a survey of workers in New York, Los Angeles and Chicago. The study, the most comprehensive examination of wage-law violations in a decade, also found that 68 percent of the workers interviewed had experienced at least one pay-related violation in the previous work week. ‘We were all surprised by the high prevalence rate,’ said Ruth Milkman, one of the study’s authors and a sociology professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, and the City University of New York. The study, to be released on Wednesday, was financed by the Ford, Joyce, Haynes and Russell Sage Foundations. In surveying 4,387 workers in various low-wage industries, including apparel manufacturing, child care and discount retailing, the researchers found that the typical worker had lost $51 the previous week through wage violations, out of average weekly earnings of $339. That translates into a 15 percent loss in pay…”

Unemployment and Poverty - Janesville, WI

townsend — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 20:59:05 +0000

Poverty’s punch still packs power, By Stacy Vogel, August 30, 2009, Janesville Gazette: “Mike and Cheryl Easton have struggled over the past year. The Janesville couple moved in with Mike’s dad after a stint at the House of Mercy homeless center. They’ve taken care of sick parents while dealing with their own health and family problems. On top of all that, they can’t find full-time, steady work. They deliver newspapers to pay for necessities for them and their 3-year-old son, David, and contribute toward household bills. ‘I’ve been applying everywhere,’ Mike said. ‘It’s insane.’ The Eastons’ story is typical in Janesville since the economy crashed in fall 2008. Jobs just aren’t available, local experts and those looking for work said. The Gazette addressed Janesville’s growing poverty rate in a three-day series one year ago. It pointed to U.S. Census data showing that Janesville’s population living below the federal poverty rate nearly doubled, from 6.5 percent to 12.7 percent, between 1999 and 2006. Since then, the national economy has collapsed. The situation is even worse in Janesville, where a host of companies, most notably General Motors, have laid off workers or moved out all together…”

State Unemployment Insurance System - Michigan

townsend — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 21:28:11 +0000

Jobless claims overwhelm state workers, By Mark Hornbeck, August 31, 2009, Detroit News: “While most state workers are about to take their last unpaid furlough day, Unemployment Insurance Agency employees are racking up overtime. The 800 employees, including call center and problem resolution staff, recently received a memo saying they’ll have to put in 140 more hours of overtime before the end of the year to keep up with the crush of applications from Michigan’s legions of jobless. They’ll have to work seven Saturdays or holidays and then another 80-plus hours of overtime during regular workdays. The overtime will cost $3.4 million, about $4,300 per employee, a tab picked up by the federal government. Michigan has an unprecedented 450,000 residents receiving unemployment compensation and ‘hundreds of thousands’ waiting to get benefits, said Norm Isotalo, spokesman for the Unemployment Insurance Agency. The state’s 15 percent jobless rate is the highest in the nation…”

Stimulus Spending on Unemployment Insurance Programs

townsend — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 21:16:03 +0000

$3.1B set aside for jobless unclaimed, By Matt Kelley, August 30, 2009, USA Today: “More than $3.1 billion in stimulus money for state unemployment insurance programs is sitting in a federal trust fund because 23 states haven’t expanded their jobless benefits, Labor Department records show. Nearly 350,000 out-of-work Americans could get benefits if all those states revamp their unemployment systems to qualify for federal money, according to estimates from the National Employment Law Project (NELP), a workers’ advocacy group. In all, the stimulus package offers $7 billion to states that make changes, which can include offering benefits to part-time workers…”

Remittances from Philippine Workers Abroad

townsend — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 21:02:11 +0000

Philippine workers abroad: The boon has a price, By John M. Glionna, August 26, 2009, Los Angeles Times: “Looking down the main drag of this farm town, Police Chief Eric Noble marvels at the modern conveniences — byproducts of the fierce ties binding Philippine families. Sturdy houses with concrete foundations now replace the thatched huts of a generation ago. There are new cars, washing machines, children attending private schools and former sharecroppers who have purchased the farms where they once worked as lowly laborers. Such economic progress has come from remittances, the staggering $1 billion sent to families nationwide each month by Filipinos working overseas in an attempt to overcome extreme poverty and joblessness in their native land…”

Young Adults Lacking Identification Paperwork

townsend — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 20:59:39 +0000

No papers — and little hope of advancement, By Garrett Therolf, August 23, 2009, Los Angeles Times: “Many days, Jamal King stands at South Vermont Avenue and West 46th Street in South Los Angeles, his muscled arms covered with tattoos flaunting his membership in the Rolling 40s, a drug-running criminal gang. His former foster father often drives past slowly, wagging his finger. ‘I know people look at me and just see a gangbanger,’ King said. ‘It’s not really who I am. It’s just temporary.’ But King’s hope for a better life is hobbled by more than poverty and his surroundings — he lacks a birth certificate. He was born in a car 20 years ago as his mother tried to get to a hospital. By age 2, he was being raised by Los Angeles County’s child welfare system. At 18, he was sent by the system into adulthood without a single form of identification: no driver’s license, no Social Security card, no way to prove who he was. Unable to qualify for even an individual taxpayer identification number, he has less ability to navigate through society than an illegal immigrant. He can’t open a bank account, obtain a job, receive government benefits, enroll in higher education…”

Unemployment in Households with Children - United Kingdom

townsend — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 21:37:16 +0000

Two million children now in homes with no working adult, By Katie Allen, August 26, 2009, The Guardian: “Almost 2 million children now live in households where there is no working adult, according to official figures released today that lay bare the social effects of the recession. The Office for National Statistics said the number of children in workless households rose by 170,000 to 1.9 million in April-June of this year, compared with the same period last year. One in six children now live in homes where there is no adult in employment. In addition, the number of children in homes with both working and workless adults over 16, also rose, up 45,000 to 3.6 million. That number includes students, retired people or those looking after the home…”

Measurement of the U.S. Unemployment Rate

townsend — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 21:40:22 +0000

Jobless rate captures only part of pain, By Mark Niquette, August 21, 2009, Columbus Dispatch: “Considering the number of people she knows personally who are out of work, Amy Drake had suspected that the unemployment rate reported in recent months was too low. “It seemed like, statistically, it should be higher than what we hear in the news,” said Drake, 44, whose Columbus job in information-technology communications was eliminated in March. That’s why it was both illuminating and disturbing for Drake to learn that the unemployment rate, widely used as a key economic indicator and political weapon, wouldn’t include her if she hadn’t looked for a job for a month. Although it’s often assumed that the jobless rate includes all unemployed workers or is based on official claims for unemployment benefits, it actually comes from a monthly survey of about 60,000 households nationwide — and it counts only those who have actively looked for work during the past four weeks…”

State Minimum Wages Tied to Inflation

townsend — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 21:22:53 +0000

Colo. could be 1st state to lower minimum wage, By Kristen Wyatt (AP), August 19, 2009, Denver Post: “Colorado’s lowest-paid workers could make even less money next year. That’s because the state has an adjustable minimum wage that may become the first in the nation to drop slightly along with the cost of living. Colorado is one of 10 states where the minimum wage is tied to inflation. The indexing is thought to protect low-wage workers from having flat wages as the cost of living goes up. But because Colorado’s provision allows wage declines, the minimum wage could actually drop 3 cents an hour next year. If the wage is reduced by state labor officials in September as expected, it would be the first minimum wage decrease in any state since the federal minimum wage law was passed in 1938…”

Healthy San Francisco Plan

townsend — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 21:03:50 +0000

Study finds S.F. health plan didn’t hurt jobs, By Heather Knight, August 21, 2009, San Francisco Chronicle: “San Francisco’s first-of-its-kind universal health care program and its mandate that employers provide health care has not resulted in feared job losses, according to a new study by a UC Berkeley researcher. Crunching quarterly data from the U.S. Labor Department, the researcher found that since the inception of Healthy San Francisco’s employer mandate in 2008, the city’s growth rate across all employment sectors was similar to or better than other Bay Area counties. While San Francisco saw its employment rate shrink due to the struggling economy, it actually shrank less than other counties…”

Unemployment and Home Foreclosures

townsend — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 21:05:25 +0000

Unemployment spike compounds foreclosure crisis, By Renae Merle, August 18, 2009, Washington Post: “The country’s growing unemployment is overtaking subprime mortgages as the main driver of foreclosures, according to bankers and economists, threatening to send even higher the number of borrowers who will lose their homes and making the foreclosure crisis far more complicated to unwind. Economists estimate that 1.8 million borrowers will lose their homes this year, up from 1.4 million last year, according to Moody’s Economy.com. And the government, which has already committed billions of dollars to foreclosure-prevention efforts, has found it far more difficult to help people who have lost their paychecks than those whose mortgage payments became unaffordable because of an interest-rate increase…”

Application Process for Jobless Benefits - Texas

admin — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 21:53:51 +0000

Jobless in Texas fight uphill battle when filing claim, By Peggy Fikac, August 15, 2009, Houston Chronicle: “If you lose your job in Texas, you may be out of luck in more ways than one. The Texas Workforce Commission rejected about a third of all jobless claims last year and 27 percent the first half of this year. When jobless people appealed those initial decisions, their chances of winning this year were only about one in four. The controversial reason for the denials is Texas’ tight list of eligibility standards, which the Legislature refused to expand even when offered $555 million more in federal stimulus money in return. Gov. Rick Perry, who led the opposition to the measure, said it would be bad for Texas in the long run…”

July 2009 Unemployment Rate

admin — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 16:39:44 +0000

U.S. unemployment rate drops slightly, By Jim Puzzanghera, August 7, 2009, Los Angeles Times: “The U.S. unemployment rate dropped slightly to 9.4% in July, another indication that the deep recession is easing. The rate went down from 9.5% in June — the first decrease since early 2008 — despite the loss of 247,000 jobs nationwide as even more people stopped looking for work, the Labor Department reported today. Although the job loss is continuing, and forecast to continue into next year, the pace has slowed considerably. The economy lost 467,000 jobs in June and averaged 645,000 jobs lost a month from November through April. The unemployment rate has essentially remained flat for two months, although economists noted it still is likely to rise before reversing course for good…”