Double-digit unemployment hits 7 states

Seven states posted unemployment rates above 10 percent in February, according to seasonally adjusted figures released Friday morning by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Michigan registered the nation’s worst rate, with 12 percent of its labor force out of work as of February 2009.

Also in double digits were South Carolina (11 percent), Oregon (10.8 percent), North Carolina (10.7 percent), California (10.5 percent), Rhode Island (10.5 percent), and Nevada (10.1 percent).

Source: Dayton Business Journal

U.S. Jobless Rolls Increase to Record 5.56 Million

According to DOL, Bloomberg: “The number of people collecting U.S. jobless benefits rose to a record 5.56 million, indicating more Americans are spending longer periods out of work. Initial claims topped 600,000 for an eighth straight time.

Total benefit rolls jumped by 122,000 in the week ended March 14, from 5.44 million the previous week, the Labor Department said today in Washington. Initial jobless applications last week rose 8,000 to 652,000, in line with forecasts.”

California economy worsens, unemployment at 10.5 percent

According to EDD, Reuters: ” California’s unemployment rate increased to 10.5 percent in February from 10.1 percent in January as the most populous state’s economy worsened, official data showed on Friday.

California’s February jobless rate far exceeded both the state’s 6.2 percent rate a year earlier and the national unemployment average for February of 8.1 percent, according to the report by the state’s Employment Development Department.”

New COBRA Subsidy is Effective Immediately

The economic stimulus package signed by President Obama on Feb. 17 (its official title is “The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009”) creates a new, temporary employer-paid COBRA subsidy.

Under the new law, effective immediately, employers are required to fund 65% of an employee’s COBRA premiums for up to 9 months.

Source: San Fernando Valley Business Journal

U.S. Initial Jobless Claims Rose to 654,000 Last Week

According to Bloomberg: “First-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits rose last week, holding above 600,000 for a sixth straight time, as companies kept cutting payrolls to reduce costs amid a worsening recession.

Initial jobless applications increased by 9,000 to 654,000 in the week that ended March 7, more than anticipated, from a revised 645,000 the prior week, the Labor Department said today in Washington. “

U.S. Initial Jobless Claims Rose to 667,000 Last Week

First-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits unexpectedly rose last week and total benefit rolls soared to a record high, a sign companies may keep shedding jobs as the recession worsens.

First-time unemployment applications increased by 36,000 to 667,000, the highest since 1982, in the week that ended on Feb. 21 from a revised 631,000 the prior week, the Labor Department said today in Washington. The number of people staying on benefit rolls rose in the previous week by 114,000 to 5.112 million.

Source: Bloomberg

237,000 U.S. jobs lost in January

A total of 237,900 American workers lost their jobs through mass layoffs in January.
That was up 11,790 from the December total, according to a report released Wednesday by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The number of mass layoff events declined from month to month, even though the number of affected workers increased. The bureau counted 2,227 mass layoffs in January, down slightly from 2,275 in December.

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, South Florida Business Journal

Unpaid furloughs a trend for U.S. white-collar jobs

The involuntary furlough, once a staple of boom-and-bust blue-collar industries like mining or automaking, is making its way into white-collar workplaces across the United States as employers try to cut costs quickly amid a deepening recession.

[Some] workplaces are experimenting with a week off every month, three-day weekends, and even simply cutting pay and letting workers choose when they lose the hours.

Source: Reuters

U.S. Jobless Benefit Rolls Reach Record 4.99 Million

The number of Americans collecting unemployment benefits jumped to 4.99 million two weeks ago, breaking a record for a fourth straight time, signaling the job market is still deteriorating.

Total benefit rolls surged by 170,000 in the week ended Feb. 7, the Labor Department reported today in Washington. First-time applications for unemployment benefits were unchanged at 627,000 last week, higher than economists projected.

Source: Bloomberg

Asian Joblessness to Balloon

Asia is likely to have 7.2 million more jobless people in 2009 than last year due to fallout from the global economic crisis, the International Labor Organization said.

It forecast the ranks of unemployed workers would likely balloon to 97 million in 2009 in Asia, the world economy’s star performer in recent years but where a third of the population still live on a little more than $1 a day.

“As global demand for workers contracts, the flow of migrant workers from developing Asia will moderate in 2009,” the ILO report said. “For labor-sending countries, this will exacerbate the challenge of mitigating job losses and generating new employment domestically.”

Source: The Wall Street Journal

Jobless phone calls cost California millions of dollars

Millions of failed calls to the state’s unemployment insurance call centers are costing California taxpayers millions of real dollars.

The Employment Development Department pays 5 cents to Verizon each time a caller dials its toll-free numbers to file or get help with an unemployment insurance claim and EDD staff can’t handle the call. The message urges callers to file their claims through the department’s Web site.

That message service has cost taxpayers $4.9 million since the beginning of 2008.

Source: Sacramento Bee

Pioneer to exit plasma displays, lay off 10,000 workers

Hit by expectations of further financial losses, Pioneer Corp. has announced 10,000 job cuts, plant closings in the US and UK, and plans to leave the plasma display market. Job cuts will include 6,000 full-time salaried employees and 4,000 contract workers both in Japan and other countries.

In a move resulting in some 350 job layoffs, the company will shut down two overseas plasma display assembly plants, located in Pomona, California, and Castleford, Britain. Pioneer plans to exit the plasma display business entirely by March of this year, according to wire reports.

Source: betanews.com

News from the past: Unemployment figures condemn New Deal.

From Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 12th of February, 1936:

There are no definite and conclusive figures on unemployment. The various agencies collecting these reports seldom agree and it is possible that total of 11,401,000 [population was ~126 million back then – layoffblog] recently given out by William Green, president of the American Federation of Labor, may be somewhat high.

But what difference does it really make in viewing the broad aspects of the problem whether the correct figure is nine million or eleven million? Either figure presents a tragic situation, and the failure to make real headway against it proves that the present Administration lacks the practical business knowledge and experience required to cope successfully with this critical and distressing problem.

For three years, the Administration has had a free hand. It has experimented with one plan after another. It has wasted billions of dollars in senseless boondoggling. Yet relief and work relief figures are almost as high as they were at the start, and unemployment continues near the peak.

U.K. Unemployment Hits 10-Year High

U.K. unemployment rose in January to the highest level in almost a decade, threatening to erode support for Prime Minister Gordon Brown as the recession deepens.

The number of people receiving jobless benefits climbed 73,800 to 1.23 million, the most since July 1999 and the 12th increase in succession, the Office for National Statistics said today in London.

Source: Bloomberg

Thousands seeking 500 jobs at new NC water park

Thousands of people lined up for 500 jobs that will start when a new indoor water park and resort opens next month in North Carolina. The Independent Tribune of Concord and Kannapolis reports that nearly 4,000 people showed up Thursday to apply for jobs at Great Wolf Lodge near Charlotte.

North Carolina has nearly 400,000 unemployed workers. The jobless rate was 8.7 percent in December, the highest since 1983.

Source: AP