Labor Department – Infinite Unknown

The Real Jobs Numbers: 41% Of America Unemployed, 33% Doesn’t Want Work At All – Government Spent $1.03 TRILLION On Welfare Programs Last Year

October 20, 2012 by Infinite

– The real jobs numbers: 41% of America unemployed, 1 in 3 doesn’t want work at all (RT, Oct 19, 2012):

Even if the US Labor Department has determined that the unemployment level has finally plateaued after months of staggering jobs statistics, the truth behind the numbers isn’t all that nice. Only four out of every 10 adults in the US is employed.

While the percentage of Americans filing jobless benefit claims isn’t what it was during an unemployment epidemic that ravaged the country throughout the majority of US President Barack Obama’s administration, the Labor Department’s numbers are largely inflated on account of how they determine what actually constitutes looking for work.

Read moreThe Real Jobs Numbers: 41% Of America Unemployed, 33% Doesn’t Want Work At All – Government Spent $1.03 TRILLION On Welfare Programs Last Year

TrimTabs Report: US Economy Actually Lost 104,000 Jobs In January

March 5, 2010 by Infinite

TrimTabs Investment Research

The Leading Independent Institutional Research Firm for Equity Market Liquidity

Full article: ABC NEWS

… a growing chorus of economists and labor market analysts say the unemployment picture in the United States is actually far worse.

They argue that the Labor Department routinely undercounts the number of unemployed in this country, adding fuel to a simmering debate on whether the government is providing an accurate snapshot of the nation’s unemployment picture.

“Our gripe about the numbers is that it leaves out broad swaths of unemployed people in the country,” said Madeline Schnapp, director of macroeconomic research at TrimTabs, a Sausalito, Calif.-based investment research firm.

Like other economic observers, Schnapp argued that the Labor Department’s methodology is flawed because it’s based on surveys and polling and ignores “the real-time data available via analysis of withheld income and employment taxes.”

A TrimTabs report this week estimated that the U.S. economy actually lost 104,000 jobs in January, far more than what the government report shows today.

By TROY MCMULLEN
Feb. 5, 2010

US Companies Cut Estimated 203,000 Jobs, says ADP

November 5, 2009November 5, 2009 by Infinite

Stating the obvious:

– Obama warns of more US jobs losses ahead (AFP):
“We anticipate that we’re going to continue to see some job losses in the weeks and months to come,” Obama said ahead of the release of unemployment figures for October on Friday.

The Obama administration (and the Fed) are running the US into the ground:

– US: Up to 95.2% Income Tax Rate Needed to Close Deficit in 2010

(Click on image to enlarge.)

Long-term unemployment. (Can’t show this graph often enough.)

Nov. 4 (Bloomberg) — Companies in the U.S. cut an estimated 203,000 jobs in October, according to a private report based on payroll data.

The drop was the smallest in more than a year and followed with a revised 227,000 decline the prior month, data from ADP Employer Services showed today. The figures were forecast to show a decline of 198,000 jobs, according to the median estimate of 34 economists in a Bloomberg survey.

Unemployment rate for young Americans has exploded to 52.2 percent

September 28, 2009 by Infinite

There is no recovery. All the bailouts (taxpayer money) went to Wall Street. The middle class is getting destroyed. So who will be able to create new jobs? Obama can promise whatever he wants to. It’s not going to happen. The US is broke. This is the Greatest Depression. More change!

The dead end kids: Young, unemployed and facing tough future

United States President Barack Obama (EPA)

The unemployment rate for young Americans has exploded to 52.2 percent — a post-World War II high, according to the Labor Dept. — meaning millions of Americans are staring at the likelihood that their lifetime earning potential will be diminished and, combined with the predicted slow economic recovery, their transition into productive members of society could be put on hold for an extended period of time.

And worse, without a clear economic recovery plan aimed at creating entry-level jobs, the odds of many of these young adults — aged 16 to 24, excluding students — getting a job and moving out of their parents’ houses are long. Young workers have been among the hardest hit during the current recession — in which a total of 9.5 million jobs have been lost.

“It’s an extremely dire situation in the short run,” said Heidi Shierholz, an economist with the Washington-based Economic Policy Institute. “This group won’t do as well as their parents unless the jobs situation changes.”

Al Angrisani, the former assistant Labor Department secretary under President Reagan, doesn’t see a turnaround in the jobs picture for entry-level workers and places the blame squarely on the Obama administration and the construction of its stimulus bill.

“There is no assistance provided for the development of job growth through small businesses, which create 70 percent of the jobs in the country,” Angrisani said in an interview last week. “All those [unemployed young people] should be getting hired by small businesses.”

There are six million small businesses in the country, those that employ less than 100 people, and a jobs stimulus bill should include tax credits to give incentives to those businesses to hire people, the former Labor official said.

“If each of the businesses hired just one person, we would go a long way in growing ourselves back to where we were before the recession,” Angrisani noted.

Fed official: Real US unemployment rate at 16 percent

August 28, 2009 by Infinite

job-seeker
A job seeker looks over an employment bulletin board in Brooklyn

The real US unemployment rate is 16 percent if persons who have dropped out of the labor pool and those working less than they would like are counted, a Federal Reserve official said Wednesday.

“If one considers the people who would like a job but have stopped looking — so-called discouraged workers — and those who are working fewer hours than they want, the unemployment rate would move from the official 9.4 percent to 16 percent, said Atlanta Fed chief Dennis Lockhart.

He underscored that he was expressing his own views, which did “do not necessarily reflect those of my colleagues on the Federal Open Market Committee,” the policy-setting body of the central bank.

Lockhart pointed out in a speech to a chamber of commerce in Chattanooga, Tennessee that those two categories of people are not taken into account in the Labor Department’s monthly report on the unemployment rate. The official July jobless rate was 9.4 percent.

Lockhart, who heads the Atlanta, Georgia, division of the Fed, is the first central bank official to acknowledge the depth of unemployment amid the worst US recession since the Great Depression.

Actual U.S. Unemployment 15.8%: Bureau of Labor Statistics

May 9, 2009 by Infinite

This morning’s news that U.S. unemployment has hit 13.7 million, pushing the rate to 8.9 percent, tells only half the story of this recession.

The total number of Americans who are not working full-time but ought to be is actually about 22 million, or 15.8 percent, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Who are those other 8.3 million Americans? Call them the unofficially unemployed.

As The Ticker points out each time the Bureau releases the monthly unemployment figure, it does not include many out-of-work Americans.

There are many reasons for this.

The bureau, which is under the Labor Department, cannot use unemployment compensation records to count the out-of-work, because they are not reliable or up-to-date enough. The bureau also cannot count every out-of-work person.

Instead, as The Ticker reported here in December: “In the case of the monthly jobs report, the Labor Department contacts 60,000 households to determine the unemployment picture for the entire workforce, which consists of about 154 million Americans.”

The problem with this methodology is that it does not include millions of Americans who are not working full-time who ought to be. Those, in the bureau’s words, who are “marginally attached to the labor force.”

Those numbered an additional 2.1 million Americans in the first quarter of this year, the bureau said. Alarmingly, that number was up 35 percent from the first quarter of 2008.

AP Investigation: Banks sought foreign workers during meltdown

February 1, 2009 by Infinite

The use of visa workers by ailing banks angers Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa, the senior Republican on the Senate Finance Committee.

“In this time of very, very high unemployment … and considering the help these banks are getting from the taxpayers, they’re playing the American taxpayer for a sucker,” Grassley said in a telephone interview with AP.

SANTA CLARA, Calif. (AP) – Major U.S. banks sought government permission to bring thousands of foreign workers into the country for high-paying jobs even as the system was melting down last year and Americans were getting laid off, according to an Associated Press review of visa applications.

The dozen banks now receiving the biggest rescue packages, totaling more than $150 billion, requested visas for more than 21,800 foreign workers over the past six years for positions that included senior vice presidents, corporate lawyers, junior investment analysts and human resources specialists. The average annual salary for those jobs was $90,721, nearly twice the median income for all American households.

Adding to Recession’s Pain, Thousands to Lose Jobless Benefits

January 15, 2009 by Infinite

P. W., at an employment office in Downtown Brooklyn, has nearly depleted her savings and fears losing her rented room after her jobless benefits end. Ruby Washington/The New York Times009

Just as the recession is throwing people out of work at an alarming rate, the unemployment insurance system in New York and many other states will start cutting off benefits this week for thousands of people who have been unable to find jobs since early last year.

About 50,000 New Yorkers who had been collecting unemployment checks for 11 months – the longest stretch that benefits have been available since the last recession eight years ago – will stop receiving weekly payments this week, according to the State Labor Department.

U.S. Economy: 2008 Payrolls Drop Biggest Since 1945

January 9, 2009January 9, 2009 by Infinite

Job seekers wait in line to speak with agents at Michigan’s Unemployment Insurance Agency Problem Resolution office in Livonia, Michigan, on Jan. 9, 2009. The U.S. lost more jobs in 2008 than in any year since 1945 as employers fired another 524,000 people in December, indicating a free-fall in the economy. Photographer: Jeff Kowalsky/Bloomberg News

Jan. 9 (Bloomberg) — The U.S. lost more jobs in 2008 than in any year since 1945 as employers fired another 524,000 people in December, indicating a free-fall in the economy just days before President-elect Barack Obama takes office.

“Consumers are now going to get more and more scared at the prospect of losing their job,” said Nariman Behravesh, chief economist at IHS Global Insight in Lexington, Massachusetts. Obama’s proposed fiscal stimulus “needs to be big, needs to be bold, needs to be swift. If they can do something quickly we can limit the hemorrhage by mid-year.”

Related articles:
– Great Depression jobs parallel may not be far flung (Reuters)
– Barack Obama: we must spend our way out of recession (Times)
– Big government is back as Barack Obama pledges that the US will give a lead to the world (Times)
– Obama pledges financial reforms (Telegraph)
– State’s Unemployment System Buckles Under Surging Demand (New York Times)
– State unemployment claim systems overwhelmed (AP)
– Barack Obama launches $60bn a year health care plan (Times)

The Labor Department reported that the nation lost 2.589 million jobs in 2008, just shy of the 2.75 million decline at the end of World War II. The unemployment rate climbed more than economists forecast, to 7.2 percent in December, the highest level in almost 16 years.

U.S. Economy: Employers Eliminate 533,000 Jobs, Most Since 1974

December 5, 2008 by Infinite

This has just been starting. It will get much worse.
__________________________________________________________________________

Dec. 5 (Bloomberg) — U.S. companies slashed payrolls last month at the fastest pace in 34 years as the economy headed for its deepest and longest recession since World War II.

Employers cut 533,000 jobs, bringing losses so far this year to 1.91 million, the Labor Department said today in Washington. November’s drop exceeded all 73 forecasts in a Bloomberg News survey. The unemployment rate rose to 6.7 percent, the highest level since 1993.

“It’s unbelievable,” said Nariman Behravesh, chief economist at IHS Global Insight in Lexington, Massachusetts. “We’re well on our way to the worst recession of the postwar period.”

U.S. Economy: Jobless Rolls Climb to 26-Year High; Factory Orders Drop 5.1 Percent

December 4, 2008 by Infinite

Dec. 4 (Bloomberg) — More Americans are collecting jobless benefits than at any time in the last 26 years as companies rush to cut costs in a sinking economy.

The number of people on unemployment benefit rolls rose to 4.09 million in the week ended Nov. 22, the most since December 1982, the Labor Department said today in Washington. A separate report showed orders at U.S. factories tumbled in October by the most in eight years as demand collapsed at home and abroad.

AT&T Inc., DuPont Co. and Viacom Inc. today announced plans to eliminate more than 15,000 jobs as consumer spending falters and the recession deepens. The Labor Department tomorrow will report that the U.S. unemployment rate jumped to a 15-year high of 6.8 percent in November, according to the median forecast in a Bloomberg survey of economists.

GM Judged Too Big to Fail as Pelosi Embraces Rescue

November 12, 2008 by Infinite

Vehicles are parked at the Jefferson Chevrolet dealership in Detroit on Nov. 7, 2008. Photographer: Jeff Kowalsky/Bloomberg News

Nov. 12 (Bloomberg) — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has thrown her support behind the premise that General Motors Corp., the largest U.S. automaker, is too big to be allowed to fail.

In urging Congress to enact emergency aid for the ailing auto industry, Pelosi rejected calls to let GM collapse and sided with the company and its allies in trying to prevent a “devastating” domino effect that would cost millions of jobs.

“Trying to reorganize the auto industry in bankruptcy would be as close to reorganizing the whole U.S. economy as you could get,” said Alan Gover, a bankruptcy lawyer with White & Case LLP in New York. “The vast supply chain involves thousands of businesses, millions of existing jobs and just as many retirees, as well as whole communities and states.”

Passage of an industry bailout plan may keep GM from running out of operating cash by year’s end, which it says may happen without U.S. help. GM is the second-biggest provider of private health-care benefits and was the third-biggest advertiser in this year’s first half.

“It’s truly one of those companies that’s too big to fail, and everybody understands that,” said Nariman Behravesh, chief economist at IHS Global Insight Inc. in Lexington, Massachusetts. “If it does collapse, it could make the recession deeper and longer.”

Behravesh said a GM bankruptcy could send the U.S. jobless rate as high as 9.5 percent, up from a 14-year high of 6.5 percent in October, and produce a recession comparable in length to that of 1980-82.

Jobless ranks hit 10 million, most in 25 years; unemployment hits 14-year high

November 8, 2008 by Infinite

Sunny Yang, left, a masters degree student from Shanghai and employed banker in New York City, speaks with World Bank representative Roberto Amorosino about opportunities for unemployed friends of his during a career fair at Columbia Univeristy Friday, Nov. 7, 2008 in New York. The U.S. unemployment rate bolted to a 14-year high of 6.5 percent in October as another 240,000 jobs were cut, far worse than economists expected and stark proof the economy is deteriorating at an alarmingly rapid pace. (AP Photo/Julie Jacobson)

WASHINGTON (AP) — The nation’s jobless ranks zoomed past 10 million last month, the most in a quarter-century, as piles of pink slips shut factory gates and office doors to 240,000 more Americans with the holidays nearing. Politicians and economists agreed on a painful bottom line: It’s only going to get worse.

The unemployment rate soared to a 14-year high of 6.5 percent, the government said Friday, up from 6.1 percent just a month earlier. And there was more grim news from U.S. automakers: Ford Motor Co. and General Motors Corp., American giants struggling to survive, each reported big losses and figured to be announcing even more job cuts before long.

Regulators, meanwhile, shut down Houston-based Franklin Bank and Security Pacific Bank in Los Angeles on Friday, bringing the number of failures of federally insured banks this year to 19.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. was appointed receiver of Franklin Bank, which had $5.1 billion in assets and $3.7 billion in deposits as of Sept. 30, and of Security Pacific Bank, with $561.1 million in assets and $450.1 million in deposits as of Oct. 17.

Jobs lost in 2008: 1.2 million

November 7, 2008 by Infinite

Payrolls shrink by 240,000 in October, 10th straight month of cuts. Unemployment soars to 6.5%

chart_job_losses2.03.jpg

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — The government reported more grim news about the economy Friday, saying employers cut 240,000 jobs in October – bringing the year’s total job losses to nearly 1.2 million.

According to the Labor Department’s monthly jobs report, the unemployment rate rose to 6.5% from 6.1% in September and higher than economists’ forecast of 6.3%. It was the highest unemployment rate since March 1994.

“There is so much bad in this report that it is hard to find any silver lining,” said Morgan Keegan analyst Kevin Giddis.

Economists surveyed by Briefing.com had forecast a loss of 200,000 jobs in the month. October’s monthly job loss total was less than September’s revised loss of 284,000. Payroll cuts in August were revised up to 127,000, which means more than half of this year’s job losses have occurred in the last three months.

September had the largest monthly job loss total since November 2001, the last month of the previous recession and just two months after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

With 1,179,000 cuts, the economy has lost more than a million jobs in a year for the first time since 2001 – the last time the economy was in a recession. With most economic indicators signaling even more difficult times ahead, job losses will likely deepen and continue through at least the first half of 2009.

U.S. Companies Cut 33,000 Jobs in August

September 4, 2008 by Infinite

Sept. 4 (Bloomberg) — Companies in the U.S. cut an estimated 33,000 jobs in August, a private report based on payroll data showed today.

The decrease followed a revised gain of 1,000 for the prior month that was lower than previously estimated, ADP Employer Services said.

The extended housing slump, high raw material costs and weaker demand are prompting employers to cut staff. Economists forecast the Labor Department will report tomorrow that the U.S. lost jobs for an eighth straight month last month.

KBR, Partner in Iraq Contract Sued in Human Trafficking Case

August 28, 2008 by Infinite

A Washington law firm filed a lawsuit yesterday against KBR, one of the largest U.S. contractors in Iraq, alleging that the company and its Jordanian subcontractor engaged in the human trafficking of Nepali workers.

US factory prices rise at fastest in 27 years

August 21, 2008 by Infinite

Fears that the cost of living in America is rising out of control were heightened today after official data showed that factory gate prices increased at their fastest rate for 27 years.

US producer prices — a measure of the price of goods as they leave the manufacturer — rose 1.2 per cent in July compared with the month before. The increase represented a 9.8 per cent jump from July last year.

Consumer prices rise at double the expected rate

August 15, 2008 by Infinite

WASHINGTON (AP) – Consumer prices shot up in July at twice the expected rate, pushed higher by surging energy and food costs. The latest surge left inflation running at the fastest pace in 17 years.

Economy hitting the elderly especially hard

July 29, 2008 by Infinite

Matt Jackson of the Meals On Wheels program waits to deliver a meal to a home in Charleston, W.Va. The program is losing volunteer drivers nationwide because of rising gas prices.

Bankruptcies soar as retirees, agencies struggle to keep up with rising costs

Bob Emily put in an honest day’s labor every day of his life.

“I worked for the railroad, for the town marshal, security, bars, Sealy down here, UPS,” said Emily, 82, of Commerce City, Colo. “Worked hard all my life until I got sick.”

Then the bills started piling up.

“Hospital bills built up,” said Emily, who didn’t have health insurance. “I had to get loans to take care of my bills. Then I was getting behind on the loans.”

Every day, more calls and letters would come in from creditors and collectors. “I just got tired of it,” Emily said, so three months ago, he filed for bankruptcy.

Jobless Claims Jump by 22,000

March 22, 2008 by Infinite

WASHINGTON (AP) – The number of newly laid off workers filing for unemployment benefits rose last week to the highest level in nearly two months, providing more evidence that the weak economy is drying up jobs.The Labor Department said Thursday that applications for jobless benefits totaled 378,000 last week. That was an increase of 22,000 from the previous week and was a far bigger jump than had been expected.

The four-week average for new claims rose to 365,250, which was the highest level since a flood of claims caused by the 2005 Gulf Coast hurricanes.

The current economic slowdown, which many economists believe has already turned into a full-blown recession, is starting to show up in the labor market in terms of higher layoffs and weaker hiring numbers.

A worker prepares the walls for a new home at the Huntington Homes modular home factory in East Montpelier, Vt., Tuesday, March 11, 2008. The troubles in housing with falling sales and prices in many parts of the country have acted as a drag on the overall economy, contributing to a serious slowdown that many analysts are worried could push the country into a recession. (AP Photo/Toby Talbot)