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Union Decline Accounts for Much of Rise in Wage Inequality, Study Finds

2011-08-20T16:26:00.000-07:00

The significant decline in union membership since the early 1970s explains approximately 20% of the rising hourly wage inequality among women and about one-third among men, according to a new study in the American Sociological Review.

"Our study underscores the role of unions as an equalizing force in the labor market," co-author Bruce Western, a professor of sociology at Harvard University, told Science Daily. "Most researchers studying wage inequality have focused on the effects of educational stratification - pay differences based on level of education - and have generally under-emphasized the impact of unions."

Looking primarily at full-time, private-sector workers, the study found that the decline in a unionized labor force explains about 33% percent of the rise in wage inequality among men. Among women, de-unionization explains about 20%.

"For generations, unions were the core institution advocating for more equitable wage distribution," said co-author Jake Rosenfeld, a professor of sociology at the University of Washington. "Today, when unions - at least in the private sector - have largely disappeared, that means that this voice for equity has faded dramatically. People now have very different ideas about what's acceptable in terms of pay distribution."

The Great Recession Standoff: Big Business vs. the U.S. Consumer

2011-08-16T20:01:00.000-07:00

Read enough news and commentary about jobs and the Great Recession and you come to think of this dire stretch in U.S. economic history instead as the Great Standoff between the American consumer and Big Business.

Big Business, which is sitting atop record-breaking profits, won't spend – e.g., hire any of the 25 million unemployed and underemployed Americans – until demand for its products and services improves.

And the American consumer – battered by joblessness, underemployment, underwater mortgages and steep consumer debt – simply no longer has the financial wherewithal to create the demand big business is holding out for.

It's been this way for roughly three years, and neither side is blinking.

Although it's not yet exactly the hue-and-cry it should be, more experts seem to be stepping forward to argue that it's now is the time for business to step up and take some responsibility for getting America back to work.

"I am coming more and more to think that with the government essentially paralyzed for the foreseeable future, the only way we’re going to get jobs is by turning to actual job creators: business itself," op-ed columnist Joe Nocera wrote in today's New York Times. "With all their cash, companies shouldn’t be waiting for Congress to give them tax incentives to hire people. They should be trying to jump-start the economy — and fend off another recession — by making investments, and hiring workers, that will lead to renewed prosperity."

Michael Useem, professor of management and the director of the Center for Leadership and Change Management at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, recently proposed an even more specific plan The Washington Post.

Useem called upon leading business organizations such as the Council of Institutional Investors, the National Association of Corporate Directors, the Business Roundtable and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce to "rewrite the rules ... of widely accepted views of investor capitalism" and place "long-term collective growth and employment security back in their mission statements.

"Working together, an inner circle of leading executives, directors and owners could help rewrite the rules most tangibly through direct actions," Useem continued. "Two come quickly to mind: 1) Creation of 1 million new U.S. jobs within the next year by the companies they lead or in which they invest. 2) Creation of a research and development fund for innovative ways to expand employment among companies they represent or own.

"Given the billions in cash that many companies have accumulated at home and abroad, the wherewithal for both is already in the bank."

Related Articles

Today's Titans of Industry Should Follow Henry Ford's Lead (job-search-torture-blogspot.com)

Republican-controlled Congress more intent on tax cuts than jobless benefits extension (job-search-torture-blogspot.com)

It's not a recession that consumers can end

2011-08-04T17:17:00.000-07:00

"Even corporate leaders have to realize at some point that their companies will not remain profitable if the people no longer are able to buy anything. A rising tide may lift all boats, but the rising ocean swells from the bottom, not from the top."

- New York Times reader in a story about the plunge in public opinion of Congressional members following the recently concluded debt limit debate

Top 299 CEOs' salaries could support 103,325 workers

2011-05-14T10:54:00.000-07:00

This from Bloomberg.com, via The Week:

"Chief executive officers at 299 U.S. companies earned a combined total of $3.4 billion in 2010, a 23% increase from the year before. That amount would support 102,325 workers earning a median wage."

Nevada's and Las Vegas' Jobless Rates Fall - For the Wrong Reasons

2011-03-10T07:31:00.000-08:00

Nevada’s unemployment rate dropped significantly in January, but not because of improving economic fortunes, but because discouraged workers have stopped looking for work or have left the state, the Nevada Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation announced earlier this morning.

“Unfortunately, the decrease was not driven by significant improvement in the labor market” said Bill Anderson, the DETR's chief economist. “It appears likely that some jobless Nevadans are becoming discouraged and giving up their search for work and dropping out of the labor force. In addition, given stagnant population levels, it is also likely that some Nevadans are leaving the state.”

Nevada’s jobless rate fell from a revised 14.9% in December to 14.2% in January.The unemployment rate in the Las Vegas area fell from 15.1% in December to 13.7% in January.

However, roughly 10,700 workers dropped out of the labor force in January, which was nearly the same decrease in the number of unemployed. Household employment remained virtually unchanged, the department reported.

The sobering announcement came after improving Nevada economic news in recent months. For instance, key indicators of the state’s economic well being, such as visitor statistics, gaming win and taxable sales, have exceeded expectations. A number of workforce indicators have stabilized, too, including the unemployment rate, although it's still inflated. “Not all is positive though,” Anderson said in the statement. “The recent surge in gas prices will undoubtedly affect travel to Nevada and continued pressure on government payrolls will likely offset any near term improvement in private sector hiring. It appears Nevada will continue to move sideways, bouncing along the trough of this recession for the foreseeable future.”

What Life is Really Like for Many Las Vegans Living Through the Great Recession

2010-11-27T09:39:00.000-08:00

Although it's now a year old, this is one of the most powerful and accurate portrayals I've seen to-date about what life is like today for many Las Vegans living through the Great Recession.

Jobless rate falls, but Nevada still most unemployed state in October - for 6th consecutive month

2010-11-24T09:00:00.000-08:00

While Nevada and other U.S. states' and regions' unemployment rates dropped in October, the Silver State still has the dubious ranking as number one in unemployment per capita in the country.

It was the sixth consecutive month the state led unemployment among in the United States. The states with the next highest jobless rates were Michigan, at 12.8%, and California, 12.4%, The New York Times reported.

And another national publication has recognized the difficulty of finding work in Sin City. Forbes.com has ranked Las Vegas the worst U.S. city for finding a job.

The hiring environment may be improving, but job seekers in cities that rely on strong economy-reliant industries should know that they may each be competing with six, seven or eight other idle workers for one advertised job, Forbes.com reported.

In arriving at its rankings, Forbes relied on figures from Juju.com, a site that aggregates job listings to arrive at its monthly Job Search Difficulty Index, which measures how tough it is to find employment in 50 major cities around the country.

"The cities that have continued to underperform rely on jobs from lagging industries such as manufacturing, tourism and construction," Juju vice president Brendan Cruickshank told Forbes.com. "Detroit and Las Vegas have improved from this time last year, but they continue have more unemployed individuals per open job than other large metropolitan areas."

Sunbelt cities like Las Vegas dominate the list of the most difficult metro areas for finding a job. Large metropolitan areas like Los Angeles, Miami and New Orleans continue to suffer as their tourism remains weak.

Although things are still tough in some areas, nationally things have improved, according to the report. "If you look back to November 2009, the average number of unemployed people per job posting was 6.5. This year it is 3.19," Cruickshank said. "This indicates that the market has gotten significantly better."

Nevada's Unemployment Rate Falls for First Time in Five Years

2010-11-22T08:32:00.000-08:00

Nevada's jobless rate has fallen for the first time in five years, the state Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation reported this morning.

Joblessness decreased two-tenths of a point, to 14.2% in October over September, the DETR announced in a statement. The improvement was even more pronounced in Las Vegas, where unemployment fell from 15% in September to 14.1% last month.

"This is a clear sign that the recession's grip on Nevada may finally be loosening," DETR Chief Economist Bill Anderson said in the statement. "The number of jobs being eliminated is stabilizing, but there is no sign of major job growth on the horizon. While the decline in the rate is immediate good news, there is still a long road ahead to completely recover from the devastating effects of the recession."

The U.S. unemployment rate in October was 9.6%.

The last time the jobless rate declined was in December 2005, when the local economy was booming and unemployment decreased to 4.2%. Since then, the Great Recession has devastated Nevada's tourism and construction industries, and the state has led the nation in joblessness, bankruptcies and foreclosures. In total, 181,600 Nevadans, and 135,000 Las Vegas Valley residents were without work in October.

Republican-controlled Congress more intent on tax cuts than jobless benefits extension

2010-11-20T10:46:00.000-08:00

Jobless benefits will run out for 2 million Americans during the holiday season unless they are renewed by a Congress that's focusing more attention on a quarrel over preserving tax cuts for people making more than $200,000 a year.

It's looking iffy at best whether Congress will renew jobless benefits averaging $310 per week nationwide that are presently claimed by almost 5 million people who have been out of work for more than six months.

An extension of jobless benefits enacted this summer expires Dec. 1, and on Thursday, a bill to extend them for three months failed in the House. Democrats brought the bill to the floor, but Republicans opposed the legislation because they were denied a chance to attach spending cuts.

Still, the looming expiration of unemployment benefits could put Republicans on the defensive since they'll expire just as debate peaks in the lame-duck session over whether to extend Bush-era tax cuts on individuals with income exceeding $200,000 or for couples making more than $250,000. The tax cuts expire Dec. 31, and Democrats oppose permanently extending the upper-bracket tax cuts, which would cost about $700 billion over 10 years. "I don't think we want to leave here having fought for tax cuts for millionaires and against unemployment insurance for those that have lost their jobs," White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said.

Every recession since 1950 has featured an extended federal benefits program financed with deficit dollars. Allowing benefits to expire in the holiday season may draw negative attention to Republicans, especially when measured against their insistence on renewing tax cuts for upper-income taxpayers.

Today's Titans of Industry Should Follow Henry Ford's Lead

2010-11-10T09:03:00.000-08:00

Drawing on the success Model T creator Henry Ford enjoyed when he doubled his factory workers' pay to $5 a day in 1914, a Harvard Business Review contributing editor is recommending that American companies do the same today.

Well, maybe not double workers' pay, but at least share with them some of the record-breaking profits companies have enjoyed as they downsized millions of American during the Great Recession.

"This is relevant now because we're dealing with a new crisis in consumer demand," John Landry writes in an HBR blog post titled "Time for a New Five-Dollar Day. "As many have pointed out, average pay in the United States has been stagnant or declining for decades." And now, "from households to governments, everyone has big debts to pay off, so it's going to be hard to emerge from the recession.

"Everyone, that is, except companies. The flip side of stagnant worker pay has been above-average corporate profits. All the talk about highly competitive markets has hidden the fact that most companies have done quite well in the past two decades."

Landry said the recent election of more Republicans will mean even less regulation and fewer taxes for businesses, another reason they should share their largesse. Because the problem isn't with businesses, "It's with consumers" who are hurting so badly financially that they can't buy many companies' products, Landry concludes.

Related articles

Washington, D.C. Easiest Place to Get a Job, Las Vegas Most Difficult, Index Finds

2010-11-10T05:44:00.000-08:00

The job-to-worker ratio is almost perfectly balanced in Washington, D.C., at 1.11:1, making it least difficult U.S. city in which to find a job, while in the nation's worst job market, Las Vegas, almost nine job seekers are vying for every open position.

That's acccording to the monthly Job Search Difficulty Index by job search engine JuJu.com, which measures the difficulty of finding employment in major cities around the country.

Las Vegas dropped below Miami in the November index, taking the 50th - or dead last - last spot previously held by Miami.

The Index was calculated by dividing the number of unemployed workers in each metro area, as reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), by the number of jobs in Juju's index of millions of online jobs in the United States, which is includes job postings from thousands of employer career portals, recruiter websites and job boards.

BusinessInsider.com has taken Juju.com's stats to create a slide show of the 10 Worst Cities for Finding a Job.

Economic stress eases in all but six states, including Nevada, AP finds

2010-11-09T07:09:00.000-08:00

The nation's economic stress fell in September to a 16-month low, and 80% of the nation's 3,141 counties saw some relief from the Great Recession's economic pain, but six states - including my home state of Nevada saw conditions worsen, according to AP's monthly Economic Stress Index.

Nevada again was the most stressed, with a score of 21.93. California with 16.15., Florida with 15.86, Michigan with 15.76 and Arizona with 14.9 rounded out the top five.

Among counties, the Top 10 are dominated by those in Nevada, California, Florida and Arizona. Las Vegas' Clark County was 6th, with a stress index of 23.5.

The AP's index calculates a score for each county and state, from 1 to 100, based on unemployment, foreclosure and bankruptcy rates. A higher score indicates more economic stress. Under a rough rule of thumb, a county is considered stressed when its score exceeds 11.

The average county's Stress score in September was 10, down from 10.3 in August. The last time the average was that low was in May 2009. Just more than one-third of counties were deemed stressed in September, down from 40% in August.

North Dakota remained the economically healthiest state with a score of 3.75. Next came South Dakota (4.78), Nebraska (5.73) and Vermont (5.89). New Hampshire leapfrogged over Wyoming for the No. 5 spot with a score of 6.79.

A glaring exception to lower distress in much of the country was Nevada. It led the nation in September unemployment with a 14.4% rate and also was No. 1 in foreclosures; 6% of homes there were in some stage of the foreclosure process. In addition, Nevada was the leader in bankruptcy filings, too, with nearly 3% of the population in the bankruptcy process.

Still, some hints suggest the worst is nearing an end in Nevada. Gaming revenue has enjoyed a small upswing. And while Nevada's housing market shows no signs of picking up, prices are starting to stabilize, Stephen Brown, an economist at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, told the AP.

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Great Recession Does What Little Else Could Do to Nevada: It Reverses Population Growth

2010-11-08T08:08:00.000-08:00

Fear and Loathing really has come to Las Vegas -

at least in the economy

It took the country's worst natural and man-made disaster to decimate Louisiana's population in the same way the Great Recession has ravaged Nevada's.

The nation's fastest-growing state for 19 consecutive years until 2006, Nevada will see its population drop an estimated 70,000, or 2.6% this year, to 2.64 million, Nevada's state demographer predicts. It would be the largest annual drop for a state since thousands of Louisiana residents were displaced by Hurricane Katrina, slicing that state's population 5.7% to 4.2 million in 2006, USA Today reports.

"The major loss (in Nevada) is happening between now and 2013," Jeff Hardcastle, state demographer at the University of Nevada-Reno, told the newspaper. "In a state that has two main industries — gaming and construction — people realize we're not in a good situation."

Driving this population exodus is Nevada's dubious #1 rankings in foreclosures, personal bankruptcies and unemployment. One out of every 29 housing units received a foreclosure filing in the third quarter of this year — almost five times the national average, according to RealtyTrac. Nevada's unemployment rate is 14.4% compared with 9.6% nationwide, while Las Vegas' 15% jobless rate has topped the country for five consecutive months.

Economic diversification tops the state's agenda, Robert, Lang, urban sociologist at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas, told the newspaper. "It's a signal for a shift in the Sun Belt. Reliance on growth due to in-migration is, in the short-term, not sustainable."

Oops, it did it again: Las Vegas Tops in the Country in Unemployment

2010-11-03T08:08:00.000-07:00

Of the 49 U.S. metropolitan areas with a population of 1 million or more, Las Vegas-Paradise, Nev., registered the nation's highest unemployment rates in September - 15.0% - the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. It was the fifth consecutive month that the region held the grim distinction, and there is little sign of near-term improvement.

Nevada last month disclosed the 15% jobless rate - which was a record breaker within the state - but it wasn't confirmed until today that that Las Vegas area is still plagued with the highest percentage of unemployed residents in the country.

Click this link to read the BLS' complete statement on Metropolitan Area Employment and Unemployment - September 2010.

Today's Dilbert Says It All About Slaving for "The Man"

2010-10-23T07:03:00.000-07:00

Today's Dilbert Says It All About Slaving for "The Man":

Las Vegas September Unemployment Climbs to Historic High of 15%

2010-10-22T07:21:00.000-07:00

Unemployment in my hometown of Las Vegas jumped to 15% in September, setting a new, all-time high for Nevada's largest labor market and likely maintaining the city's spot as the nation's most unemployed city.

The Las Vegas jobless rate grew three-tenths of a percentage point in September over August, while the state's rate remained steady at 14.4%, the Nevada Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation (DETR) reporting early this morning. On a more positive note, it was the first time since January that the state rate did not increase, and only the second time the rate did not grow since the Great Recession began.

Unemployment rates in each of Nevada's metropolitan areas increased from August to September. (Unemployment rates for the state’s metropolitan areas are not adjusted for seasonality. For comparison purposes, the state’s unadjusted unemployment rate was 14.5% in September, up from 14.2% in August.)

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics will release the September's metropolitan Area unemployment figures Wednesday, Nov. 3, at which time it will be known if Las Vegas has retained its dubious #1 ranking in unemployment among the nation's major cities.

"Recently released employment projections show considerable job loss through 2011," DETR Chief Economist Bill Anderson said in a statement. "In 2012, job loss will subside significantly, but a weak economic climate will keep outright growth in check."

The state doesn't expect broad employment growth until 2013, and "even then, expectations are for weak employment growth at best," Anderson continued. "The recovery will most certainly differ from typical rebounds, but this recession has been anything but typical. Following recent recessions, Nevada’s economy boomed, driven by new growth and construction. Given its current state of high home foreclosures, falling prices and weak demand for new commercial development, new construction will not stimulate growth across the broader economy anytime soon."

The biggest job losers continue to be those most affected by the recession: leisure and hospitality and construction. Federal government employment continues to decline as the 2010 centennial census winds down. Employment in Nevada’s trade sectors remained flat, but with the holiday hiring season just around the corner, employers should start adding jobs over the next couple of months.

In recent months, unemployment growth has begun to subside, suggesting that the labor market may finally be bottoming out, Anderson said, while also noting that at the national level, personal income has increased nearly every month this year.

“The question is: when and by how much will income growth translate to improvements in Nevada’s tourism-based economy?” Anderson asked. “That translation has a lot to do with consumers’ willingness and ability to pay for a trip to Nevada. While it’s still early, we may be seeing some tentative signs of improvement."

For example, visitation to Las Vegas increased nearly every month in the last year, he said. Also, in recent months, both taxable sales and gaming win recorded sizable year-over- year gains.

A few hours after the state released its figures, the BLS reported that employers undertook 1,486 mass layoffs affecting 133,379 workers in September. Despite the alarming-sounding news, layoffs decreased for the third consecutive month, while associated initial claims decreased to their lowest level since April 2008.

More Depressing Foreclosure Factoids

2010-10-20T16:19:00.000-07:00

Brought to us by our friends at TheFinancialBrand.com:

Goldman Sachs Ads "Don't Address Jack"

2010-10-20T15:12:00.000-07:00

Brought to my attention by TheFinancialBrand.com, Goldman Sachs has launched a new Young & Rubicam-created ad campaign designed to improve Goldman's Rolling Stone magazine-decreed bruised and battered "Vampire Squid" image. Ad #1 from the campaign, slated to run into next year:

As TheFinancialBrand.com declares, "This campaign doesn’t address jack. In the court of public opinion, Goldman Sachs stands accused of financial crimes against humanity, and this is their public response? This is the exact same mistake Swiss banking behemoth UBS made last month with its 'We Will Not Rest' ad campaign: When you’ve destroyed people’s trust, the last thing they want to hear is a bunch of bromides and mushy, corporate rhetoric."

Related reports:

FORBES.COM: Goldman Wants to Buy Your Trust

ADPULP.COM: What Happens When Your Ad Campaign Is Really a PR Campaign?

HUFFINGTONPOST.COM: Goldman Sachs' Latest Ad Campaign: Touts Clean Energy
BUSINESSINSIDER.COM: Matt Taibbi - There Was A "Little Bit" Of Hyperbole In My Goldman Article

Las Vegas August Unemployment Falls Slightly to 14.7%

2010-09-19T09:00:00.000-07:00

The number of Las Vegans out of work for the month of August fell one-tenth of 1 percent, to 14.7%, while Nevada's rate climbed by the same ratio, to 14.4%, the state Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation reported this morning.

The rate represents 192,000 people out of work in the state with 142,000 of them in the Las Vegas area. More than 10,000 workers left the labor force to either seek employment out of state or became too discouraged to look for work, said Bill Anderson, the DETR's chief economist. “The hot summer days of August did little to stimulate Nevada’s economic fortunes,” he added. “Readings of key labor market indicators continue to show moderating losses."

Nationally, the unemployment rate stood at 9.6% in August.

FOX News Seeking Chief White House Correspondent Who "Thinks Less and Talks More"

2010-08-27T09:48:00.000-07:00

FOX News Chief White House Correspondent Major Garrett is leaving the network for a job the National Journal, saying he wants to "think more and talk less."

See Comedy Central Stephen Colbert's take on this development in the video clip below.

The Colbert Report

Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c

Fox News Job Opening

www.colbertnation.com

Colbert Report Full Episodes

2010 Election

Fox News

Joblessness & the Great Recession: A Scary, Scary Time-Lapse Digital Graphic, 2007-Present

2010-08-24T14:21:00.000-07:00

This is both educational and very, very frightening: a time-lapse digital graphic of a map of the United States as unemployment and underemployment – devastating almost 31 million Americans and counting – sweeps the country, from January 2007 through today.

Las Vegas' jobless rate up to 14.8%, expected to again make it America's most unemployed metro area

2010-08-20T07:06:00.000-07:00

Las Vegas’ July jobless rate increased two-tenths of a point, to 14.8%, likely ensuring it will again have the highest unemployment rate of major U.S. cities when national figures are released later this month.

The “real” unemployment rate, which also includes unemployed residents no longer actively seeking work, however, is 21.5%, the state’s Department of Employment, Training and Development announced this morning, which means more than one out of every five Nevadans is jobless.

The state’s July jobless rate ticked up one-tenth, to 14.3%. It is the smallest one-month increase of the year, but marks the 16^th consecutive month the rate increased to a new record high. Given that Michigan announced a slight decrease in its jobless rate Thursday, it’s also likely Nevada will continue to have the country’s highest statewide unemployment rate.

"Weakness in Nevada’s job markets persists, with both the public and private sectors reporting less employment over the month," according to the statement. “Particularly troubling is the continued contraction of the employment services industry,” which supplies temporary workers to expanding businesses. “Growing demand for temporary workers is usually a precursor for future permanent hiring." The drop in July means “expectations for future hiring remain weak.”

Regarding the unofficial unemployment rate – which the state calculated and included in today’s announcement for the first time – “the reality of the recession’s impacts on Nevada’s workforce is much worse than presented” in the official rate.

Fading consumer confidence at odds with growing corporate profits fueled by layoffs and cost-cutting

2010-07-28T09:28:00.000-07:00

“You can’t cut your way to prosperity,” according to an old business adage.

But during the Great Recession, corporate America is sure gonna try.

Americans' confidence in the economy faded further in July, according a Conference Board survey released earlier this week, amid job worries and flat wages. But don’t tell that to Big Business, which has enjoyed a recent rally fueled by upbeat earnings reports fueled by layoffs and overseas sales. And despite improved balance sheets and robust stock prices, few companies are rehiring any of the millions of Americans they’ve laid off in the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression.

Companies "have the wherewithal to do whatever they want -- hire; make new investments; raise dividends; do mergers and acquisitions," S&P's Howard Silverblatt told Washington Post Writer's Group columnist Robert Samuelson. "Historically, higher profits lead to higher employment," said Mark Zandi of Moody's Economy.com.

But "so far, history be damned," Samuelson wrote. "The contrast between revived profits and stunted job growth is stunning. From late 2007 to late 2009, payroll employment dropped nearly 8.4 million. Since then, the economy has recovered a scant 11% of those lost jobs. Companies are doing much better than workers; that defines today's economy." (Read more of Samuelson's thoughts on growing corporate profits and rising unemployment.)

The Consumer Confidence Index registered 50.4 in July, a steeper-than-expected drop from the revised 54.3 in June, according to the Conference Board poll. The decline follows last month's decline of nearly 10 points, and is the lowest point since February. A healthy economy registers 90 or higher – but that’s a level not seen since the recession began in December 2007.

"Consumers have a much different view of the economy than the stock market does, and their views matter more to the economy," Wells Fargo economist Mark Vitner told the Associated Press.

"A rapid, sustainable recovery can't happen without the American consumer. Economists closely watch confidence because consumer spending accounts for about 70% of U.S. economic activity, and is necessary for a robust economic recovery.

"Businesses can't cost cut their way to consistent profit growth," Zandi told Samuelson. "Eventually, they need to generate revenue growth that requires investment and hiring.

"Fatter profits have shown that companies have squeezed higher productivity out of remaining workers, but that also means that "households are not benefiting," Joel Naroff, president of Naroff Economic Advisors, also told the AP. “The profit picture is "good news for Wall Street, but not good for workers."

It's official: Las Vegas' Unemployment Rate in June Highest Among Major U.S. Cities

2010-07-28T08:00:00.000-07:00

In a #1 ranking no one wants, the Las Vegas Valley topped major U.S. metro regions in unemployment for the second consecutive month, according to a Bureau of Labor Statistics report released this morning.

Of the 49 metropolitan areas with a population of 1 million or more, Las Vegas topped the list at 14.5%, the BLS said.

Unemployment rates were lower in June than a year earlier in more than half of the 372 metropolitan areas the bureau ranks. A dozen areas recorded jobless rates of at least 15% percent, while 6 areas registered rates below 5.0%. The national unemployment rate in June was 9.6%, not seasonally adjusted, compared with 9.7% a year earlier.

El Centro, Calif., and Yuma, Ariz., again recorded the highest unemployment rates, 27.6 and 26.4%, respectively.

Las Vegas was narrowly surpassed by Yuma as the area that registered the largest over-the-year jobless rate increase in June. Yuma's increased 2.9 percentage points, while Las Vegas' was up 2.1 percentage points.

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Once booming Nevada, California and Florida move to end of the line, according to new economic study

2010-07-27T06:04:00.000-07:00

A homeless man in downtown Las Vegas.

Three states that only five years enjoyed historic booms that put them near the top of many national economic rankings - Nevada, California, and Florida - now have the country's weakest economies, according to a midyear review of by business website Portfolio.com and national business periodical publisher bizjournals.

The half-decade has been particularly devastating to my home state of Nevada, which finished #1 in the business publications' mid-year review in 2005, but now is dead last. Its results were only about one-half a percentage point worse than California, which was 11th in 2005, and finished 50th this year. (The District of Columbia is included in the rankings.) Florida was second five years ago and is 49th this year.

Several factors sent all three states to the back of the line, primarily their boom-and-bust real estate sector and dramatic declines in tourism that's been driven by the global Great Recession.

Empty Florida beach chairs

Nevada, California, and Florida have collectively lost 1.69 million jobs since 2005 - or the equivalent of 926 jobs A DAY. All are struggling with double-digit jobless rates. The Silver State again is the worst; its June unemployment rate was 14.2% and the jobless rate of its most-populous city, Las Vegas, was 14.5%. Both were records, and federal figures slated to be released tomorrow will show whether Las Vegas has the worst unemployment among major U.S. cities for the second consecutive month.

Portfolio.com and bizjournals rely on a nine-part formula to analyze state employment trends. It uses U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data over the latest five-year period and zeroes in on raw and percentage changes in private-sector employment, as well as unemployment rates.

Forty states had fewer jobs in May 2010 than five years earlier. The nation lost a total of 4.51 million private-sector positions between mid-2005 and mid-2010.

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger

The middle of the country and the Northeast have fared best during the Great Recession. Seven of the 10 strongest states gained a total of 485,600 jobs. Their collective unemployment rate was 7.9%, as of May.

The 10 states at the bottom of the standings faced an overall unemployment rate of 11.8% in May. They collectively lost 3.12 million jobs during the five years, or 1,710 jobs A DAY.

For the complete ranking, click here.

Unemployment benefits extended to 99 weeks for jobless Americans

2010-07-23T09:21:00.000-07:00

President Barack Obama yesterday signed the bill that extends unemployment benefits for more than 2.5 million jobless Americans. The legislation passed the House of Representatives by a vote of 272-152 earlier in the day.

The bill extends the cut-off for benefits from June 2 to Nov. 30, and unemployed citizens will continue to receive payments for 73 weeks after that, for a total of 99 weeks of unemployment benefit. The new law works in concert with Home Affordable Unemployment Program, which gives qualified homeowners the ability to borrow up to $50,000 to assist them with their mortgage, provided that they have a reasonable prospect of resuming payments within two years.

In states like Pennsylvania and New York, the back payments should go out next week, officials said. In others, like Nevada and North Carolina, it may take a few weeks for all of those eligible to receive benefits.

Thirty-one House Republicans, about one in six, voted for the measure Thursday, while 10 Democrats opposed it. In my home state of Nevada - which had the highest jobless rate in the nation in June, at 14.2%, for the second consecutive month. The Nevada Congressional delegation's support of the measure was unanimous when Republican Congressman Dean Heller crossed party lines and joined Las Vegas-area Congressional Democrats Dina Titus and Shelley Berkley in voting for the measure. Heller was unsuccessful in a bid to introduce an amendment that would have tapped unused economic stimulus funds to pay for the extension. Nevada Republican Sen. John Ensign was the only state official to oppose the measure, in the Senate's earlier vote.

Even with an extension to 99 weeks for most unemployed Americans, will it be enough? U.S. economist Lawrence Souza told HousingWire that the current state of unemployment is not going to be solved overnight. "It will be 2015 when full employment is achieved at 95 to 96% of the workforce," he said.

The estimated cost surrounding the legislation is $34 billion, one reason some in Congress were hesitant to vote it through. But Obama argued that the bill had to be funded via deficit spending because it was an emergency measure to protect 9.5% of the United States' population.

For more information about the bill, click here.

Dubious Distinction Confirmed: Nevada is again #1 in Nation in Unemployment in June 2010

2010-07-20T13:37:00.000-07:00

It didn't come as much of a surprise to state labor economists, but the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics today confirmed that Nevada reported the highest unemployment rate in the country for the second consecutive month, 14.2% in June. The Silver State also recorded the largest jobless rate increase from June 2009, up 2.3 percentage points.

Although Las Vegas’ June rate again surpassed Michigan’s – which before May, had the nation’s highest jobless rate - it won’t be clear whether Sin City again will be #1 in U.S. unemployment among U.S. states and major cities until the U.S. Department of Labor Statistics releases its metropolitan-area unemployment data July 28.

However, in an email interview yesterday, Jered McDonald, an economist with the Department of Employment, Training & Rehabilitation, said in an email interview with Examiner.com, “I can tell you, though, that in May, Las Vegas had the highest unemployment rate among the nation's largest metro areas,” he added. “With an increase of four-tenths [of a percent,] to 14.5% in June, Las Vegas will be right up there again.”

In total, 25 states posted jobless rates significantly lower than the U.S. figure of 9.5%, 10 states had measurably higher rates, and 15 states and the District of Columbia had rates that were not appreciably different from that of the nation.

The five other states with the next highest rates were Michigan, 13.2%; California, 12.3%; and Rhode Island, 12.0%.

Jobless Benefits Extension Overcomes Critical Senate Obstacle

2010-07-20T12:45:00.000-07:00

With exactly the minimum votes needed to overcome the fourth Republican attempt to block a federally financed extension of unemployment benefits, Senate Democrats this afternoon advanced a House bill that will restore the cash payments to millions of jobless Americans.

A final Senate vote is expected later today, with all but certain passage being ratified in the House tomorrow.

Democrats in the Senate moved ahead with the bill after an interim appointee, Carte Goodwin, was sworn in this afternoon to replace the late Sen. Robert C. Byrd, D-W.V. Goodwin cast the 60th "yes" vote that gave the Democrats its filibuster-proof majority.

Nevada breaks unemployment record for 12th consecutive month in June; both state and Las Vegas expected to be at top in national unemployment rankings

2010-07-19T14:01:00.000-07:00

Both my home state of Nevada and home city of Las Vegas reported record unemployment today. Reaching a new record high for the 12th consecutive month, the state's jobless rate ticked up two-tenths of a percentage point, to 14.2%, in June. The Las Vegas rate also jumped four-tens of a percentage point, to 14.5%, state officials announced today.

Although Las Vegas’ June rate again surpassed Michigan’s – which before May, had the nation’s highest jobless rate - it won’t be certain whether both the Silver State and Sin City again will be #1 in U.S. unemployment among U.S. states and major cities until the U.S. Department of Labor Statistics tomorrow releases state jobless data for the remainder of states that haven’t independently released their data and releases its metropolitan-area data July 28.

But in the gambling capital of the world, odds are that the state and city will achieve the dubious distinctions once more.

Because the three states with the next-highest jobless rates in May all already have released their data, and all went down, “we do suspect Nevada will still have the highest unemployment rate” in the country, Jered McDonald, an economist with the Department of Employment, Training & Rehabilitation, said in an email interview earlier today.

Where Las Vegas will stand among large cities is more difficult to predict, McDonald added, because data at the metropolitan level is generally more volatile, and their rates are not adjusted for seasonal employment fluctuations the way state data is. “I can tell you, though, that in May, Las Vegas had the highest unemployment rate among the nation's largest metro areas,” he added. “With an increase of four-tenths [of a percent,] to 14.5% in June, Las Vegas will be right up there again.”

Overreliance on tourism makes state dependent on national recovery

A slight decline in the U.S. unemployment rate in May was a good sign for Nevada because the state is so dependent on tourism spending from other parts of the country, DETR Chief Economist Bill Anderson said in a statement.

“One thing many Nevadans have come to realize during the current recession is that economic forces beyond our borders have the potential to significantly impact performance in the Silver State,” Anderson added. “Along those same lines, policy decisions at the national level can potentially have significant ramifications here in Nevada.”

Lack of unemployment extension adds to pain

Adding to the continuing troubling employment picture in the state, the June expiration of federal unemployment benefits extensions is hurting a growing number of unemployed Nevadans, the DETR said.

To date, nearly 40,000 state residents have exhausted their UI benefits, a number that grew by about 7,300 – or 8.3% – the week of July 10 alone. At an average payment of around $300, the latest drop in unemployment insurance payments eliminated almost $12 million in federal money – in just a single week – dollars that typically flows directly into Nevada's economy, the DETR noted, and benefit scores of businesses people patronize in their everyday lives.

The Senate is scheduled to vote Tuesday on an already passed House bill that would extend federally financed benefits. The Senate has been successful in filibustering the measure three times in the past few weeks, but a new Democratic senator to replace the late Sen. Robert Byrd (D-W.V.) will take place before the fourth vote occurs, which is expected to give the Democrats the filibuster-proof 60 votes needed for passage.

Record joblessness and underemployment keep Las Vegas #1 in home foreclosures

2010-07-15T06:50:00.000-07:00

I live in suburban Las Vegas, which has been hit particularly hard by the Great Recession: it's currently #1 in unemployment, slipping past Michigan when the Silver State's jobless rate hit 14.1% last month, and it's been tops in the rate of home foreclosures for too many months to count.

The good news is that the state saw a decline in foreclosures in the first half of 2010, compared to last year, but the bad news is that it kept its dubious #1 national ranking, according to California-based RealtyTrac, which monitors foreclosures nationwide.

The company reported Wednesday that Nevada's foreclosure filings dropped 13% in 2H/2010 compared to the second half of 2009, and decreased 6% when compared to the first six months of last year.

Nevada had 64,429 foreclosures in the first half of 2010, which equates to one filing for every 17 homes, or almost 6% of all houses in the state, RealtyTrac reported.

Nevada had 38,077 foreclosure filings in the second quarter of 2010, which was 10% higher than the first quarter, RealtyTrac reported. The second quarter filings, however, were 13 percent lower than in the same period in 2009. Almost 11,000 homes were repossessed in the second quarter.

As if that isn't enough bad news, the area’s foreclosure problem isn’t over, according to national research firm CoreLogic.

In May, 21% of Las Vegas mortgages were delinquent by 90 days or more, CoreLogic says. Contrast that to January 2009, when the 90-day delinquency rate was 13%. The jump is a reflection of the poor economy - worse in Las Vegas than in much of the country because of the city's near total economic dependence on tourism and gaming - and the large numbers of Las Vegans who have lost their jobs or had work hours cut by the massive casino resorts along the Strip who employ hundreds of thousands, either directly or indirectly.

Backing that up, Forbes magazine published the results of an analysis earlier this week that put Las Vegas at the top of its list of riskiest cities for homeowners.

Nevada had 38,077 foreclosure filings in the second quarter of 2010, which was 10% higher than Q1, RealtyTrac reported. The second quarter filings, however, were 13% below the level of the same period in 2009. The pace of properties entering foreclosure slowed because lenders delayed proceedings in favor of more short sales and loan modifications, the firm said.

Rounding out the Top 5 on the most residential foreclosures, Arizona was #2, Florida #3, California #4 and Utah #5.

Job openings down, layoff up in May, according to latest Labor Department statistics

2010-07-13T14:49:00.000-07:00

Job openings dropped in May from the previous month and layoffs increased slightly, the Labor Department said today.

The dip follows two months of increasing openings, driven partly by temporary government hiring for the 2010 census.

Although May's total is 37% higher than the low point of 2.3 million openings in July 2009, it's still significantly lower than pre-recession levels of about 4.5 million openings per month.

Layoffs in May increased to 1.9 million, but remain at pre-recession levels. The department says layoffs peaked at 2.6 million in January 2009.

Record joblessness contributes to Las Vegas' #1 ranking as Forbes' "riskiest city for homeowners"

2010-07-09T19:05:00.000-07:00

Las Vegas ranks at the top Forbes magazine’s list of Riskiest Cities for Homeowners, the magazine reported in its July 9 issue, on newsstands today.

Overall, 7% of all U.S. homes loans are at least 90 days delinquent in the 10 riskiest cities in America – the rate is 10% in Las Vegas. Contrast that to the 4.4% average delinquency rate in the nation’s 100 largest metro markets. And record-high unemployment in Las Vegas and similarly distressed markets is fueling the problem.

"It's not purely a house price story; there's a second story going on," Kyle Lundstedt, a senior managing director at Lender Processing Services, the Jacksonville, Fla.-based mortgage-industry service provider that compiled data for Forbes’ analysis, told the magazine. "When you combine even moderate house price declines with significant unemployment, you get a double whammy that has significant consequences for the consumer."

Along with finances, outlook on life and optimism are casualties of Great Recession, survey says

2010-07-09T00:34:00.000-07:00

The Great Recession has left Americans not only financially devastated, but emotionally overwhelmed as well.

More than three-quarters of Americans reported that they have significantly changed their outlook on life since the start of the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression, according to a poll conducted in late June by public opinion consultancy StrategyOne. Other disturbing findings:

58% of those surveyed have reevaluated their approach to life since the recession began
52% have become less hopeful about the future since the recession began
49% now believe that, because of the recession, that they will probably fall short of their personal or professional goals

In addition, significant numbers of Americans report their temperaments and behaviors have changed - for the worse - since the recession began in December 2007:

42% have become more easily angry or emotional since the recession began
41% have become more depressed or are frequently sad since the recession began
33% find themselves screaming or raising their voice more frequently since the recession began
15% sought out assistance for mental health problems since the recession began

And a number of Americans are coping with the slow economy by drinking, smoking or using drugs more often.

19% started drinking or smoking more
6% started using illegal drugs or used them more often

In addition, many on the verge of significant life events - such as marrying, divorcing, having children or retiring - say they have postponed taking that step specifically because of financial considerations caused by the recession:

27% of women 18 to 34 years old have delayed having a baby
21% of those 55 years or older have postponed retirement
18% of single Americans have postponed getting married or engaged
9% of married Americans have delayed getting divorced

"There are a number of untold stories out of the 'Great Recession' - Americans changing their outlook on life, becoming less hopeful, and also putting off having a child or leaving a troubled marriage," said Bradley Honan, Senior Vice President of StrategyOne, who authored the study. "The impact of this recession on Americans can't be solely measured by job loss or how much value the stock market has lost. Instead, we must consider how much the emotional and psychological outlook of the country may have been substantially altered by what's happened."

Viewing a Leading Economist's April Predictions About Unemployment Today

2010-07-03T13:11:00.000-07:00

The following is from testimony given April 14, 2010, before the Senate Finance Committee by Mark Zandi Chief Economist of Moody’s Analytics. It's frightening how appropro it is three months later to the unemployment situation and debate regarding Congress' decision not to extend unemployment insurance.

"The 8.4 million decline in jobs represents over 6% of the pre-recession job base, and the nearly double-digit unemployment rate means some 15 million Americans are looking for jobs. There are nearly five unemployed workers for each available position; normally the ratio is at most one unemployed worker per open position. (Note: It's now estimated that there are more than six unemployed Americans for each job.)

For anyone losing a job, moreover, it is extraordinarily difficult to find another. The average length of unemployment is closing in on eight months, and nearly half of those unemployed have been out of work more than the 26 weeks normally covered by unemployment insurance. (Note: the percentage of Americans who have been out of work for six months or more has now grown to 55%.) Even in the early 1980s—the last time unemployment hit double digits—only 1/4 of the unemployed were out of work that long. During the worst recession of the 1950s, closer to a 1/10 of workers were in this difficult position.

The unemployment statistics are bad, but they still understate the stress in the job market. Including those working part-time because they cannot find full-time work, and those who want to work but are not counted as unemployed because they have not looked for jobs in the past month, the so-called underemployment rate jumps to almost 17%.

This represents an astounding 26 million Americans. On top of that are those whose hours have been cut back; the average number of hours worked per week remains just above record lows.

... The recession’s severe job losses erased a decade of U.S. employment growth. Not until 2013 are payrolls expected to regain their previous peak.

... It will take even longer for unemployment to decline to its full-employment rate. The estimated full-employment unemployment rate has already risen from below 5% prior to the Great Recession to nearly 5.5% now and could go even higher unless unemployment begins to decline soon. Assuming job growth performs as expected, unemployment will not fall back to a rate consistent with full employment until 2014.

It is ... important that policymakers provide emergency benefits to those who will lose their jobs this year. No form of the fiscal stimulus has proved more effective during the past two years than emergency UI benefits, providing a bang for the buck of 1.61—that is, for every $1 in UI benefits, GDP one year later is increased by an estimated $1.61.

This economic boost is large because financially stressed unemployed workers spend benefits quickly, as opposed to saving them ... if emergency UI benefits are not extended ... the recovery would struggle to evolve into an expansion as anticipated.

... If large numbers of unemployed workers begin running out of UI benefits this spring and summer, consumer sentiment could sink further. Attitudes would sour not only among the unemployed but also among their relatives, friends and neighbors, as they worry more about their own situations."

June Jobless Rate Falls as Many Quit Looking

2010-07-02T08:58:00.000-07:00

The nation's unemployment rate fell to 9.5% in June but only because 652,000 Americans quit looking for work, as conflicting economic signals cause investors and consumers to wonder whether the nation is continuing to recover or sliding back toward recession.

Unemployment fell from 9.7% in May even though the nation lost 125,000 jobs in June, the Labor Department reported today.

Nigel Gault, chief U.S. economist with economic, business and political forecasting consultancy IHS Global Insight, said the jobless rate depends on how many people are looking for work. So many Americans have been unemployed for so long that their benefits are expiring, which perversely contributed to June's statistical dip.

"The rate declined, but for all the wrong reasons," Gault told the San Francisco Chronicle.

Republicans Block Unemployment Insurance Extension for 4th Time

2010-07-01T19:46:00.000-07:00

The Senate Thursday rejected yet another attempt to authorize extended unemployment insurance, falling one vote short of stopping a Republican filibuster that essentially killed the bill until after Congress' Fourth of July vacation.

As of today, 1.2 million unemployed Americans will stop receiving aid from the federal government, according to a report in the International Business Times.

The stopgap bill was the fourth attempt to revive unemployment insurance. To win Republican support, Democratic leaders slashed the bill's 10-year deficit impact from $134 billion to $33 billion, but Republicans still refused to budget from their "No" stance. "The only reason the unemployment extension hasn't passed is because our friends on the other side have refused to pass a bill that doesn't add to the debt," said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.)

Not true, according to The Washington Post. The only reason 2 million out-of-work Americans will have lost their unemployment benefits by Independence Day is because Sen. Robert Byrd (D-W. Va.) died Monday, robbing the Democrats of the additional single vote they needed for passage.

The bill will be re-introduced on July 14, after the July 4 recess and when Byrd's replacement is likely to be named.

A more callous, uncaring Congress?

Since the 1950s, extended federal benefits have never been allowed to expire with a national unemployment rate of more than 7.2%. The Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that the current rate stands at 9.7%, and some business analysts predict it will climb another tenth of a percentage point, to 9.8%, in the latest federal unemployment figures set to be released Friday morning.

Survey: More than half of all Americans have taken job hit in Great Recession

2010-06-30T07:48:00.000-07:00

More than half of all adults in the U.S. labor force say that since the Great Recession began 30 months ago, they have suffered a spell of unemployment, a cut in pay, a reduction in hours or been moved involuntarily to part-time work, a new survey by the Pew Research Center has found.

The survey also finds that the recession has reduced spending and borrowing by Americans, diminished expectations about retirement and their children's future, and fueled beliefs that it will take several years - at a minimum - for family finances and house values to recover.

Some findings are:

One-third have lost jobs. In addition to pay cuts and reductions in hours, the survey finds that about one-third of working adults have been unemployed during at least some portion of the recession.

It ain't over 'til ... A majority of Americans believe the U.S. economy is still in a recession.

Earning less, spending less. More than six-in-ten Americans say they have cut back on their spending since the recession began in December 2007.

Family Finances: Slightly more than half are in worse financial shape now than before the recession began, while just more than 20% say they are in better shape.

Lower Expectations for Children's Future: Slightly more than a quarter of Americans say their children will have a worse standard of living than they now have.

Read the full report at pewsocialtrends.org .

"Underemployed" and long-time unemployed continue to struggle in jobless recovery

2010-06-04T07:25:00.000-07:00

The "underemployment" rate - made up of those who have given up looking for work and part-timers who would rather be working full time - fell to 16.6% from 17.1% in the prior month. But the number of people out of work six months or longer reached 6.76 million, a new high. They made up 46% of all unemployed people, also a record high.

The Gallup organization Thursday also detailed one aspect of the difficult psychological toll long-term unemployment has on individuals. Unemployed Americans' hopes for finding work drop sharply as their length of unemployment increases. Among job seekers who have been unemployed less than one month, 71% think they'll find work within the next month. For those who have been unemployment for more than six months, that percentage drops by almost one-half, to 36%, the organization found in the latest installment of a tracking poll it conducts.

Gallup also called for greater attention to the millions of underemployed Americans, which its research placed at 19.1%, far higher than the official government number. Gallup speculated that the financial crisis in the European Union, the decline in the stock market, and Gulf oil spill have spooked employers. "Regardless, the nation needs to expand its focus to include not only the unemployed, but also the underemployed," Gallup opined.

About 125,000 new jobs are needed each month just to keep up with population growth and prevent the unemployment rate from rising. Hiring isn't expected to be consistently strong enough to quickly drive down the unemployment rate for at least the remainder of this year.

Employers allege wrongdoings against laid-off workers - but is motivation to illegally keep from paying unemployment taxes?

2010-05-03T20:23:00.000-07:00

As if giving terminated employees a few minutes to collect personal effects under the watchful eye of a security guard and showing them the door with a week or two of severance isn't a humiliating enough, businesses are zeroing in on yet another indignity to cut costs during the Great Recession: falsely accusing laid-off workers of wrongdoing in an effort to stem employer-paid unemployment taxes.

In 2006-07, employers lodged about 306,000 accusations of misconduct against terminated employees, a number that soared 46% in 2008-09, to almost 447,000, according to data from the National Employment Law Project.

"The likelihood that the amount of misconduct would jump as the labor market worsened is extremely low," Bruce Nissen, director of research at Florida International University's Center for Labor Research and Studies, told Orlando Sentinel reporter Jim Stratton. "If anything, workers would be more likely to ‘toe the line' during times of high unemployment. "This is a way to reduce their costs."

Companies have good reason to limit the number of former workers filing unemployment benefits claims. Businesses pay state unemployment taxes based, in part, on how much their former employees collect over time. Workers fired for misconduct are ineligible for benefits and don't count as marks against businesses when states calculate new state unemployment contribution rates. So, alleging that an employee has committed wrongdoing can disqualifying them from receiving benefits and the company usually pays less in taxes.

Some researchers, however, told Stratton that assuming ill intent on the part of employers because of increasing misconduct allegations is spurious; the recent jump is tied to the sheer volume of claims, not to fraudulent employer claims. But others countered that misconduct firings should be driven by the size of the labor pool, not by recession-related layoffs. When viewed that way, there were about 17 misconduct objections for every 1,000 workers in Florida in 2006, a number that jumped to 33 in 2009, Stratton reported.

Is the Great Recession Drawing to a Close? 162,000 jobs added in March, most in 3 years

2010-04-02T09:17:00.000-07:00

The U.S. Labor Department is heralding March’s employment figures – the addition of 162,000 jobs, the most since the recession began but below analysts' expectations of 190,000 – as a sign that the Great Recession has drawn to a close.

However:

The U.S. unemployment rate remained at 9.7% for the third straight month. (More Americans entered the work force last month, which prevented the increase in jobs from reducing the unemployment rate.)

The total includes 48,000 temporary workers hired for the U.S. Census – fewer than many economists forecast.

15 million Americans are out of work, roughly double the number before the recession began in December 2007.

The number of Americans out of work for six months or longer increased to 6.5 million, a record high.

More than 44% of those out of work are long-term unemployed – or out of work six months or longer – also a record.

More Americans say they are working part-time, although they prefer full-time work. When they and discouraged workers who have given up searching for jobs are included, the "underemployment" rate increased slightly to 16.9%.

Average hourly earnings fell by two cents to $22.47, a result of high unemployment enabling companies to hold down wages.

At the same time, average weekly earnings rose by about $3 to $629.37, showing that most employers probably are having current employees work longer hours before hiring new workers.

"For those laid off, unemployment is stretching longer and longer and putting severe distress on families." - Christine Owens, executive director of the National Employment Law Project

Although the increased employment is welcome news, the below-project figure confirms predictions that it will be a very slow recovery. Most economists – who had predicted growth of 190,000 jobs – don't expect new hiring to be fast enough in 2010 to meaningfully reduce the unemployment rate.

"It is still disappointing that it took roughly nine months before we started to see any meaningful rebound" in jobs, Paul Ashworth, senior U.S. economist at Capital Economics, wrote in a note to clients.

Case Against Layoffs: Killing workers (literally), the economy — and even the bottom line

2010-02-11T14:42:00.000-08:00

In today's slash-and-burn labor economy, Newsweek's latest cover story will be blasphemous to many of America's titans of industry: "Lay Off the Layoffs — Our over-reliance on downsizing is killing workers, the economy — and even the bottom line."

Could it be that the millions of Americans who have been left jobless in the Great Recession are suffering for naught?

Jeffrey Pfeffer, professor of organizational behavior at Stanford University's Graduate School of Business, suggests just that in his almost 3,000-word manifest in the Feb. 15 issue of the magazine.

"Companies have always cut back on workers during economic downturns, but over the last two decades layoffs have become an increasingly common part of corporate life — in good times as well as bad." But "companies now routinely cut workers even when profits are rising ... to minimize hits to profits, not to ensure their survival."

— Jeffrey Pfeffer, professor of organizational behavior at Stanford University's Graduate School of Business

Pfeffer, co-author of the new Hard Facts, Dangerous Half-Truths and Total Nonsense: Profiting From Evidence-Based Management, details the ill that layoff can cause, including some surprising ones.

"Even if downsizing ... is an accepted weapon in the modern management arsenal, it's often a big mistake," Pfeffer writes. "In fact, there is a growing body of academic research suggesting that firms incur big costs when they cut workers." These include:

severance pay
paying out accrued vacation and sick pay
outplacement costs
higher unemployment-insurance taxes
cost of rehiring employees when business improves
low morale
risk-averse survivors
potential lawsuits, sabotage, or even workplace violence from aggrieved or former employees
loss of institutional memory and knowledge
diminished trust in management
reduced productivity

Other consequences are surprising. Conventional wisdom that large-scale restructurings automatically boost a company's stock price is nothing more than the equivalent of a corporate urban legend, Pfeffer writes. Three academic studies looking at more than 2,000 restructurings between 1979 and 1998 "found negative stock returns to companies announcing layoffs, with larger and permanent layoffs leading to greater negative effects."

However, no consequence to companies is nearly as serious as those felt by downsized employees, Pfeffer says. "Layoffs literally kill people," he concludes, noting that Americans' health insurance is generally tied to their employment, and studies consistently show a connection between not having health insurance and individual mortality rates. He also cites a recent National Bureau of Economic Research report that showed U.S. job displacement leads to a 15%-to-20% increase in death rates in the following 20 years. This would extrapolate to a loss in life expectancy of 1.5 years for an employee who loses a job at the age of 40.

"Layoffs are mostly bad for companies, harmful for the economy, and devastating for employees. This is not news, nor should not be," Pfeffer concludes. "There is substantial research literature in fields from epidemiology to organizational behavior documenting these effects. The damage from overzealous downsizing will linger even as the economy recovers."

What a difference a decade makes: U.S. workers report across-the-board decline in job satisfaction

2010-01-27T17:53:00.001-08:00

American workers are significantly less satisfied with their jobs, job security, work-family balance, income, health care and retirement options than they were 10 years ago, according to a national survey newly released by the John J. Heldrich Center for Workforce Development at Rutgers University.

In both the November 2009 and 1999 surveys, the answers to identical questions about eight aspects of work dropped across the board. Happiness with the number of hours worked (59% to 37%) and job security (59% to 41%) decreased the most dramatically. Additionally, there were declines of about 10 percentage points in overall job satisfaction, and satisfaction with income, health coverage, retirement and pensions, and the ability to balance work and family life.

“From 9/11 to surges in oil prices, to bank failures to shocks on Wall Street and in the housing market, the American worker has had a rough decade,” said study Co-Director and Professor Cliff Zukin. “They have watched the unpleasant economic realities of the past 10 years - for which they bear little personal responsibility - touch their lives in tangible and harmful ways. Taken as a whole, workers have little confidence in the American economy at the turn of a new decade.”

The survey’s findings obviously reflect the dramatic changes that have occurred in the past decade. American workers in 1999 were brimming with confidence: seven in 10 said it was a good time to find a quality job and almost two-thirds said they could get as good or a better job if they wanted or needed to do so.

Not surprisingly, today’s workers have a much grimmer perspective: The percentage of workers “very concerned” about the unemployment rate skyrocketed from 18% in 1999 to a staggering 63% today. Only one in 10 say it is a good time to find a job, while just two in 10 feel confident they could find a new job as good or better than the one they now have.

While satisfaction declined among all groups for each of the eight items, there are some noteworthy differences:

Overall job satisfaction decreased more among those who have attended at least some college than it did among those with only a high school education.

Satisfaction with health and medical benefits dropped more sharply among women (a 19 percentage point decline) than among men (5 points).

Satisfaction with opportunities for education or training declined more for those under 40 years of age than for those older.

U.S. closes 2009 with larger-than-expected job loss

2010-01-09T14:44:00.000-08:00

The U.S. economy made 2009 the worst year of employment losses since the Great Depression with an unexpectedly large drop of 85,000 jobs in December, according to government data released Friday.

Although December's unemployment rate remained unchanged at 10%, it was only because scores of Americans, including many discouraged about being able to land a new job, stopped looking. By the government's definition, jobless Americans no longer actively looking for new work are not counted as "unemployed."

"The increased number of discouraged workers is masking the true extent of joblessness," Anne Kim, economic program director at Third Way, a Washington-based liberal policy think tank, told the Los Angeles Times.

Nationally, analysts had expected the economy to lose just 8,000 jobs in December. The loss of 85,000 was a setback after November, when, according to revised figures released Friday, the economy actually added 4,000 jobs, the first gains in nearly two years. "The labor market is getting better, but it is still a long way from being healthy again," Paul Ashworth, economist at Capital Economics Ltd., told the Associated Press.

Despite all of the grim news released this week, some economists said a recent trend of improvement remains in place. The economy lost an average of nearly 700,000 jobs in the first three months of last year, a figure that dropped to 69,000 in the fourth quarter.

Related information:

Statement of U.S. Secretary of Labor regarding December 2009 employment numbers

One in five U.S. workers plans to changes jobs in 2010, new survey says

2010-01-08T14:54:00.000-08:00

Nearly one-in-five workers (19%) plan to leave their current job this year and find a new one, and another 9% said they'll switch jobs in 2011, according to results of a new CareerBuilder survey released Thursday.

Many employers cut or froze salaries, bonuses and benefits in 2009, practices that have led employees to feel less loyal than in the past.

Almost one in eight workers (12%) whose companies cut benefits or perks in 2009 said they will leave their jobs within six months, while 27% who did not receive a raise or promotion in 2009 said they will leave their current positions in less than a year if they do not receive either. Nearly one in five (18%) workers whose pay was cut in the past year said they will stay at their jobs no longer than six more months.

Factors workers reported influence job satisfaction and company loyalty are:

Pay - 57% did not receive a raise last year, up from 35% in 2008. Of those who received raises, 28% were given an increase of 3% or less. Seventy-one percent did not receive bonuses.To help make ends meet, 8% took on a second job during the year, while 19% plan to find a second job in 2010 to supplement their primary paycheck.

Leadership shortcomings - 23% rate their corporate leaders as poor or very poor. Workers main concerns were: an inability to address employee morale (35%); not enough transparency (30%); and major changes being made without warning (28%).

Career advancement - 28% are dissatisfied or very dissatisfied with career advancement opportunities provided by their current employers. Of workers who did not receive a promotion in 2009, 90% are dissastisfied with their jobs, while almost one-quarter feel they were overlooked.

Switching industries - 20% said they plan to switch careers or fields in the next two years. Top reasons include: wanting to pursue a more interesting line of work (67%), higher pay (54%), more career advancement (41%) and increased stability (36%).

Work/life balance - Nearly one-quarter (23%) are dissatisfied or very dissatisfied with their work/life balance, up from 18% last year.

U.S. job satisfaction lower than in two decades, new survey finds

2010-01-07T15:12:00.000-08:00

Americans across all ages and incomes continue to grow increasingly unhappy with their jobs, extending a 22-year decline documented in an annual survey sponsored by non-profit business research and policy think tank The Conference Board that was released Thursday.

The results found that employee satisfaction has dropped more than 15 percentage points, to 45%, since 1987, the first year the survey was conducted.

"Through both economic boom and bust during the past two decades, our job satisfaction numbers have shown a consistent downward trend," Lynn Franco, director of The Conference Board's Consumer Research Center, said in a news release. "While one in 10 Americans is now unemployed, their working compatriots of all ages and incomes continue to grow increasingly unhappy."

Almost one-quarter of respondents also reported that they don’t expect to be in their current job in a year, which confirms the findings of a survey conducted at the end of last year by online job search site CareerBuilder.com.

Fewer Americans are satisfied with every aspect of their work and no age group was immune: Baby Boomers to members of Generation Y all showed declining job satisfaction, according to the survey. The drop in job satisfaction also was evident in all other categories the survey measured, from interest in work (down 18.9 percentage points) to job security (down 17.5 percentage points). This was also true across the four "key drivers" The Conference Board has concluded are necessary for a high level of "employee engagement:" job design, organizational health, managerial quality and extrinsic rewards.

Employers should view the data as a "big red flag," John Gibbons, program director of employee engagement research and services at The Conference Board, said in the news release, because the increase in work dissatisfaction is not just a result of the widespread layoffs and other workplace cuts employees have endured in the Great Recession.

Related Articles

Americans who still have jobs eager to find new ones

One in five U.S. workers plans to change jobs in 2010, new survey finds

Number, length of layoffs up, but severance down

2009 job seekers ring out the old, ring in the new with Top 25 Movie Quips About Work

2009-12-31T08:46:00.000-08:00

While 2009’s job seekers pop the cork on a budget-conscious bottle of Andre and say "good riddance" to 2009, they also can laugh over the "Top 25 Movie Quips About Work," which I developed in a totally unscientific method for my Las Vegas Job Search Examiner page on Examiner.com.

Antar Dayal/Getty Images

SAY WHAT? Casino industry career way out of economic hardship?

2009-12-28T06:53:00.000-08:00

Although it may seems incredulous in Las Vegas – a virtual one-industry town with close to 13% unemployment and tens of thousands of casino workers out of work or scraping by on reduced hours and fewer tips – casino gambling supervisors and managers will be among the 50 best careers in the United States in 2010, according to an article in the latest issue of U.S. News & World Report, on newsstands today.

The number of casino supervisors is projected to grow by 12%, "a bit more than average for all careers between 2008 and 2018," the magazine says.

U.S. News' view is seconded by a web site that bills itself as "the top online casino gambling news reporting organization."

The expansion of legalized casino gaming beyond the historic powerhouses of Nevada and Atlantic City, N.J., means "thousands of jobs have opened up across the country," according to a report posted today by (the other) Tom Jones, Staff Editor of CasinoGamblingWeb.com. In the past year, legislation approving or expanding casino gaming has been enacted in several U.S. states, including California, Colorado, Florida, Missouri, Pennsylvania and West Virginia.

And because few industries manage their operations more closely than the casino business, "every gaming operation needs smart managers to oversee its daily business, no matter the casino's characteristics," U.S. News concludes.

The magazine, in particular, glosses over difficulties that have plagued the industry and casino-dependent regions in recent years. The article's only mention of the industry's devastating workforce and shift reductions in recent years is to note that "although Las Vegas took a hit during the recession, more and more states are looking to gaming to boost their ailing budgets." At least CasinoGamblingWeb notes that, "As Nevada is finding out, casino gambling is only profitable when people have the money to gamble," although it then inexplicably claims that "while unemployment rates continue to rise in other industries, casino owners are hiring employees for their new casinos on an almost daily basis."

U.S. News asserts that with ambition and "experience in gaming and skill," a casino manager should enjoy solid promotional prospects. The article reports that median wages in 2008 for gaming supervisors were $45,000. Gaming managers – "who tackle more of the human resources hiring and training responsibilities" – had median earnings of just more than $68,000, according to the article, which notes a wide pay range for managers: $30,000 to $112,000.

As any Las Vegan with at least a cursory knowledge of the industry knows, the stress level is "sometimes high," U.S. News acknowledges. "Casino work tends to be pretty colorful, and you may face tough hours (nights and weekends) and have to deal with unhappy (i.e., losing) customers."

Aside from a license from the state board or commission that oversees a manager's casino, there are no strict educational requirements," U.S. News reports, which is a definite plus in the eyes of CasinoGamblingWeb. "The best part about the casino industry is that there is little education needed to break into the field. That leaves the door open for thousands of people in the U.S. to change careers in 2010, moving towards a career in a casino field that looks to be on the rise for decades to come," the web site's report concludes.

Just tell that to the ten of thousands of out-of-work Las Vegas casino workers.

Americans who still have job eager to find new one

2009-12-23T15:48:00.000-08:00

Although the U.S. unemployment rate remains in the double digits, more than one-half of U.S. workers plan to change jobs in 2010, others are reporting widespread "disengagement" within their workforces, and employers are underestimating the level of employees' willingness to pursue opportunities with new companies.

That's the conclusion of a host of surveys recently conducted by several management consulting and human resource organizations and Internet job site CareerBuilder.

Among the findings:

Right Management, a division of employment services company Manpower, asked 900 North American workers, "Do you plan to pursue new job opportunities as the economy improves in 2010?" and the responses were:
- 60% - Yes, I intend to leave
- 21% - Maybe, so I’m networking
- 6% - Not likely, but I’ve updated my resume
- 13% - No, I intend to stay
The 2009 Employment Dynamics and Growth Expectations Report said 55% of employees plan to change jobs, careers or industries "when the economy recovers."

CareerBuilder polled 4,285 full-time, private-sector employees and found that 40% are struggling to stay motivated in their current jobs, and 24% said they didn't feel loyal to their employer.

Another survey by consulting firm Finnegan Mackenzie and business network ExecuNet involving 1,627 employed executives found that more than 90% of executives would take an executive recruiter’s call and more than 50% are looking for a new job. It also found that professionals at all levels of management are underestimating the percentage of direct reports interested in pursuing new opportunities.

Those surveys come on the heels of other research showing that employee engagement levels have dipped during the past year or so. In September, Workforce Management conducted a survey of 525 readers at organizations with 1,000 or more employees. Roughly 45% of respondents reported that engagement had decreased a little or a lot at their organization since the recession began. Nearly 27% said engagement had stayed the same, and 28% said it had increased.

A May survey by consulting firm Watson Wyatt Worldwide of 1,300 workers at large U.S. employers found that engagement levels for top performers fell close to 25% year over year. Employees overall experienced a 9% drop in engagement year over year, Watson Wyatt said.

In a similar survey by Adecco Group North America, 77% of workers were critical of their organization’s brain trust and weren’t satisfied with the strategy and vision of their company and its leadership.

"Employees are clearly expressing their pent up frustration with how they have been treated through the downturn," Right Management President and Chief Operating Officer Douglas J. Matthews said in a news release. "While employers may have taken the necessary steps to streamline operations to remain viable, it appears many employees may have felt neglected in the process. The result is a disengaged and disgruntled workforce."

A Workforce Management magazine story recently said "layoffs, pay cuts and other fallout from the recession have devastated employee engagement." Experts in employee retention say staff-cutting and budget-cutting employers must move quickly to restore pay cuts and reward employees or risk losing them next year, according to a December news report about the surveys.

Why jobs are coming back far more slowly than they were eliminated

2009-12-13T11:07:00.000-08:00

"Eight million may finally be enough," U.S. News and World Report's Rick Newman opines in his latest blog post. That's roughly the number of jobs the country has lost since the Great Depression began in late 2007.

But if the latest decrease in the unemployment rate holds, an end to job losses won't solve the country's unemployment problem. The economy must add more than 100,000 jobs per month just for the unemployment rate to stay even, and many more for the United States to return to economic health. The problem is there's been little sign of significant new job creation.

Newman wanted to know why the entrepreneurship that marked the end of past U.S. recessions doesn't seem to be happening in this one, so he spoke to Carl Schramm, president and CEO of the Kauffman Foundation, a nonprofit group that promotes entrepreneurship.

Some of Schramm's observations:

Recessions spur entrepreneurial spikes. During recessions, large corporations return to their core business, often eliminating positions held by innovators working on new technologies, products or businesses. When jobs are cut, laid-off professionals often start their own firms. That's a major reason half of all Fortune 500 firms were created during a recession or bear market. They were founded by people out of a job, but who were able to tap important intellectual property to build businesses.

Why we're not seeing the creation of new businesses now. "This is the first time in a recession that we've seen new-firm starts decline," Schramm told Newman. Previous funding sources for fledgling small businesses – tapping home equity, or even borrowing against retirement plans or on credit cards – have dried up during the Great Recession. "That's a difference in terms of direction. Without creating high-growth businesses that helped end previous recessions, "there won't be new jobs ... That means there's a very bleak future for jobs."

The recent slight decline in the U.S. unemployment rate doesn't mean job growth is around the corner. "A lot of lost jobs aren't coming back. People who were laid off at GE, for example, are not getting those jobs back. We need to create new firms to hire those people."

What job seekers should do. Network, network, network. Get additional relevant education. That can mean, for example, someone with a bachelor's degree returning to a community college to improve or expand computer skills.

What a "President Schramm" would do. Rename the Small Business Administration the "New Business Administration" to signify the need to start as many high-growth, high-skill businesses as possible. Suspend cumbersome regulations like Sarbanes-Oxley, but only for small businesses. Offer tax breaks, but again, that only benefit new businesses.

To read Newman's original post, click here.

Great Recession May be Over, but Rocky Recovery Ahead, Experts Say

2009-12-08T09:34:00.000-08:00

Although the Great Recession may technically be over, the economy will remain rocky and the nation will continue to struggle well into 2010, the Associated Press reported yesterday.

The AP's monthly analysis of economic stress in more than 3,100 U.S. counties found the economy little changed in October compared with September. Some states saw slight improvement or stabilization, thanks to steadying foreclosure and bankruptcy rates. But the gains may be brief. Unemployment remains high, and the housing market is still weak. The "AP Economic Stress Index" calculates a score from 1 to 100 based on a county's unemployment, foreclosure and bankruptcy rates. Under a rough rule of thumb, a county is considered stressed when its score exceeds 11. About 37% of the nation's 3,141 counties were deemed stressed, roughly the same proportion as the previous month.

Nationwide, the average county's Stress score remained unchanged at 10.1 in October, matching September's figure. It was 10.3 in August. A year earlier, in October 2008, the average score was a much lower 6.9.

My home state of Nevada had the highest October stress score of any U.S. state, at 21.09. That dismal figure declined slightly from the October figure of 21.95. Three Nevada counties — Lyon, Clark and Nye — again led the nation in foreclosures in October, with rates ranging from 7.1% to 8.5%, the AP reported. Nevada suffered the biggest year-to-year gain in foreclosures and continued to lead the nation with a 7.2% foreclosure rate. Job loss is a growing reason for mortgage foreclosure, according to AP and because there's typically a 60-to-90-day lag between a job loss and a foreclosure, the effect of earlier job losses on foreclosures probably won't be fully felt until next year.

Not surprisingly, Michigan, which has been battered by auto industry troubles, was second-highest, with a score of 17.36, followed by California (16.48), Florida (15.4) and Arizona (14.37).

Least stressed was North Dakota, with a score of 3.89.

U.S. Unemployment Rate Falls, but Job Recovery Not Expected Until Mid-2010

2009-12-04T08:00:00.000-08:00

The government reported good news today, saying the unemployment rate declined in November to 10% from 10.2% in October, the Associated Press reports. Still, the rate remains more than double what it was in December 2007, when the recession began.

Economists said the November jobless report could signal a turnaround in the labor market. But they still expect a tepid recovery. Unemployment is expected to resume rising until around the middle of next year, before employers ramp up hiring enough to start pushing the jobless rate down.

"There are signs that recovery is on the way nationally ... but it's not playing itself out uniformly," Sean Snaith, an economist at the University of Central Florida, told the AP. "Some areas are going to be slower than others."

Is the fledgling economic recovery actually a "recovery gap" between rich and less well-to-do Americans?

2009-12-03T16:02:00.000-08:00

U.S. News & World Report's Rick Newman makes a interesting observation today on the peridiocal's "Money" blog about the so-called signs that the recession has ended: the rich, who likely gained much more from the recent stock market recovery could be spending more and creating the appearance of a recovery, while the rest of us continue to struggle.

Although the twin crashes in the stock and housing markets meant that rich Americans lost a lot more total wealth than the rest of us and cut back correspondingly, "there's some evidence that wealthy consumers are bouncing back faster than the rest of America," Newman reports.

Because the wealthy aren't jumping to spread their wealth with the rest of us, we may have to wait for the infamous "trickle-down effects," Newmark concludes. "We may actually be in the midst of a two-tier recovery in which life is getting better for a small minority of Americans at the top of the income chain, and they spend enough additional money to drive up spending and other stats and make it look like there's a real recovery," he continues. "But the same so-called recovery could bypass many ordinary Americans, which is what seems to be happening now.

"At least one thing hasn't changed: It's good to be rich. Now as much as ever."

U.S. Unemployment Worsened in Most U.S. Metro Areas in October

2009-12-03T13:13:00.000-08:00

Unemployment worsened or stayed the same in most U.S. metro areas in the month of October, according to Labor Department statistics reported by the Associated Press.

The jobless rate rose in 162 of the 372 metro areas tracked by the Labor Department, AP reported. The rate was unchanged in 42 areas and dropped in 168 areas.

The gloomy numbers came on the eve of the Obama administration's "jobs summit," which opened today at the White House and will include economists, academics and corporate executives who whill mull how the government can spur job creation.

COBRA Subsidy Keeping Thousands of Unemployed Insured Expires Today, but Could be Extended

2009-12-01T14:53:00.000-08:00

A federally provided subsidy that covered 65% of the medical insurance costs for up to nine months for the unemployed expires today, meaning health insurance costs will skyrocket and likely be out of reach for scores of jobless Americans. But an Illinois Congressman is working to have the subsidy extended.

COBRA requires employers to offer laid-off or terminated employees the same health insurance coverage they had as an employee for up to 18 months, but employees must bear the entire cost themselves, rather than receiving a subsidy most employers extend. This difference can triple or quadruple the cost of coverage. For example, in Illinois, the average family coverage with the subsidy was $389 a month, but without it, it will shoot to $1,139 monthly.

"For many people this is all they have and one of the reasons we need comprehensive health care," Rep. Phil Hare, (D-Ill.), told Chicago's WMAQ-TV. "We have 14,000 people everyday in this country losing their health insurance as it is."

WMAQ-TV reported that Hare has approached Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi about extending the subsidy before the current Congressional session ends. "One way or another it appears the House is going to move on this before we adjourn, which is wonderful news because without it, this is literally life and death for many people," he told the TV station.

Dear Boss Man, Please Give My Dad A Job ...

2009-11-27T10:51:00.000-08:00

A real-life example of one of my recent post comes from Oregon, where 12-year-old Cheyenne Hess, worried after her father lost his job in December and had only been able to pick up sporadic day work, penned a letter to the supervisor there, asking him to hire her father full-time:

“Dear Ed Reed:

“Please give my Dad a job at Oregon Motorcoach. He has been out of a job since December 2008 and he deserves this job and you deserve such a great painter, he has a great painting skill. He has painted cars, coaches and he always has a good attitude about what he has to do. He has always been a good Dad, painter and lovely husband and friend. If you hire him you would be getting a good deal and a lot of new customers for life. My Dad has never been rude to anyone so you won’t have to worry about having meetings with him. So please, please, please hire him. He always has great ideas at meetings and never needs an assistant.

“Sincerely, Cheyenne Hess”

To read the entire article - including how the story turns out - click here.

If you haven't lost your job, has your boss cut your pay? Taken away overtime? Reduced your workweek? Eliminated raises? Chopped your benefits? Put you on an unpaid furlough?

2009-11-26T19:00:00.000-08:00

Compensation for U.S. workers so far in 2009 has been cut by the largest amount in nearly two decades, with a government index of real average weekly earnings down 1.9% since last December, McClatchy Newspapers has reported. And the average workweek — now down to 33 hours — is the shortest on modern record.

As mentioned in an earlier post, if "underemployed workers" - those forced to take shorter shifts or other employment cutbacks - are included, the nation's unemployment and underemployment rate is closer to 18%, not the official 10.2% unemployment rate.

Job Loss Hurts the Little Ones' Pysches, Too

2009-11-12T00:51:00.000-08:00

Family finances and the breadwinners' self-esteem aren't the only things that have suffered because of the widespread layoffs that have marked the Great Recession.

Children in families where parents have lost jobs also are struggling – with behavioral issues and stress-induced disorders, and could face longer-term effects, The New York Times reports in today's newspaper.

________________________________________

“The extent that job
losers are stressed and emotionally disengaged or withdrawn, this really matters for kids. The other thing that matters is parental conflict. That has been shown repeatedly in psychological studies to be a bad family dynamic.”

– Developmental psychologist Ariel Kalil, director of New York University’s Center for Human Potential and Public Policy

_________________________________________

The article also cites a recent study bythe University of California, Davis that found children in families where the head of the household had lost a job were 15% more likely to repeat a grade. Another earlier study found that adolescent children of low-income single mothers who endured unemployment had an increased chance of dropping out of school and showed declines in emotional well-being.

To read the entire article, click here.

Number, length of layoffs up, but severance down

2009-11-10T10:42:00.000-08:00

Today's Wall Street Journal has a lengthy front page article about executives and professionals who blithely burned through what many would regard as generous severance packages, thinking they'd be re-employed at another big-salaried job long before the severance was gone.

Although this issue won't be a problem with many facing joblessness – people cited in the article received severance packages of as much as $200K – one nugget of information did: companies have been steadily decreasing or outright eliminating severance packages in the past decade. For those who do receive severance in today's brutal employment market, the median amount is equivalent to 12.5 weeks' of their salary, down from 21.8 weeks in 1999, according to figures the article cites from Chicago-headquartered outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas.

This is occurring at a time when a) unemployment is the highest it's been in 26 years; and b) the long-term jobless rate is greater than it's been since the government began tracking it ... in 1948.

For the entire article, click here (although it will only be available to non-subscribers of WSJ.com through Nov. 17).

Slashing Jobs Beyond What's Necessary ... and Defining What's Necessary

2009-11-10T01:22:00.000-08:00

Aside from the direct "collateral damage" that has resulted from the 15.7 million jobs lost during the Great Recession, the ruthlessness and severity with which jobs have been slashed is also fueling greater long-term economic inequality in the country, according to an op-ed in today's New York Times.

____________________________________________________

"In other words, U.S.

corporate management has

used the crisis to slash jobs

well beyond what economic

decline strictly demanded."

__________________________________________________

In the column, author Roger Cohen cites Chicago economist David Hale as concluding that U.S. employment has declined at a much faster rate than national output (6% versus 3.8%) since the the beginning of the recession, whereas in Germany and Japan, the job losses have been just a fraction of the increase in output.

"In other words," Cohen wrote, "U.S. corporate management has used the crisis to slash jobs well beyond what economic decline strictly demanded."

This has led to "stunning" increases in American productivity, according to Hale, making U.S. businesses more competitive than ever, which, theoretically at least, eventually could create jobs. "But for now, the newly jobless ask, “'What recovery? What justice?'”

“If managements are raising profits by cutting jobs, and that gives them a stock market gain of 55%, in the end you’re magnifying inequality,” Hale told Cohen.

To read the entire column, which uses this information to make the case for the critical need for universal health care, click here.

Ultimate Cost of the "Great Recession:" Rising Suicide Rates?

2009-11-09T09:10:00.000-08:00

Deeply depressed over a pending home foreclosure and mounting bills, Debra Gibbs, a Goshen, Indiana, homemaker, sent her daughter out the morning of June 23 — and then shot herself in the head, MSNBC.com reports this morning.

Gibbs' suicide occurred the day after the repossession of her 2007 Chevy Malibu, the last purchase she’d made with her late husband, Sam. “She was doing everything she could to hold onto what was hers,” said Gibbs’ daughter, Rebecca Filley, said.

In some U.S. communities that went into recession as early as 2005 or 2006, the worst recession since the Great Depression has been accompanied by a worrisome rise in suicide deaths. People who’ve lost jobs commit suicide at rates two times to four times higher than those who are employed, according to the American Association of Suicidology.

Public officials in the communities that have experienced a rise in suicides can't help but see the recession connection. “We’ve had many situations where people lost their jobs and that was the reason for why they do what they do,” said Sheriff Mark A. Hackel of Macomb County, Mich.

To read the entire story, click here.

To see where your county's suicide rate stands, click here.

Unemployment, Then & Now

2009-11-06T12:11:00.000-08:00

Some interesting statistics comparing the unemployed now, and in 1982, when the U.S. jobless rate last rose above 10%:

Another Milestone We'd Just as Soon Skip: U.S. Unemployment Rate Hits 10.2%

2009-11-06T07:12:00.000-08:00

As I was preparing this blog for its official introduction to the world this morning, the news reports began pouring in that the nation's unemployment rate has passed that dreaded, yet anticipated, double-digit figure: the closely watched unemployment metric surged to 10.2% in October, the highest it's been in 26 years, the Labor Department reported this morning.

The unexpected sharp increase, from 9.8% in September, came as companies slashed 190,000 more jobs 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," the Chicago Tribune's "Swamp" reported.

________________________________

If workers too discouraged to seek work and those who want to work full-time, but have been forced to accept part-time jobs are included, the nation's unemployment and underemployment rate in October was actually 17.5%.
________________________________

Although unemployment had increased steadily, the double-digit figure is expected to have a major psychological impact and could create potentially significant political consequences.

In apparent anticipation of the grim number, President Obama is expected this morning to sign a bill passed earlier this week by Congress that will extend jobless benefits to the long-term unemployed and expand tax-relief programs for homebuyers and businesses operating at a loss.

The last time the jobless rate crossed double digits was during the recession and initial recovery period of the early 1980s. Unemployment hit 10.1 percent in September 1982, rising to a high of 10.8 percent. It remained at or above 10% until June the following year, the Tribune reported. "This time around, unemployment has risen even faster and, by some analysts' reckoning, could hover around 10 percent for much longer," the newspaper's blog reported.

The jobless rate at the start of 2009 was 7.6%. Since then, the number of unemployed workers has increased by 8.2 million, to 15.7 million as of October, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

If those numbers aren't depressing enough, the "unofficial" labor situation is actually worse because the government doesn't count as "officially unemployed" the so-called discouraged workers, those who have given up looking for jobs. That figure in October was 808,000, a 40% increase over the 484,000 Americans who were too discouraged to continue to look for a job in October of last year.

And to add even more joy to your Friday, an additional 9.3 million people report that they are underemployed because their hours either have been cut or they can't find full-time work. "If this group, and discouraged workers are included, along with others on the fringe of the labor market, the nation's unemployment and underemployment rate in October was 17.5%," the Tribune reported.

Jobs are slashed, stock market soars - WHY?

2009-11-05T19:15:00.000-08:00

I've always found it perversely fascinating that in the hours and days immediately after a company announces a major layoff — destroying the financial stability and security of countless families, who often are are the company's customers — its stock price enjoys a significant uptick. U.S. News and World Report's Rick Newman recently offered a primer into why that's the case and why it can't go on forever.

Newman notes that since cratering in March, the stock market has jumped some 60%, one of the most dramatic rallies in history. He adds, however, that as the market has risen, so has the unemployment rate.

_________________________________________

"The same workers who have been getting laid off, improving the [bottom line for many companies, are also consumers running out of money to spend. Some are going bankrupt, defaulting on bank loans, and losing their homes. That's a major risk to corporateprofits — and stock prices — down the road."

— USN&WR's Rick Newman

_________________________________________

So, why are the two not inverse? Stocks have surged because companies are reporting stronger earnings than the market anticipated. But earnings have increased NOT because companies are doing more business; they're improving because companies have cut costs more than revenues have declined. And for most companies, costs equate to jobs.

With stock options and bonuses that often exceed their seven- or eight-digit salaries, CEOs and other executives rarely face the same economic realities as the rest of us. But the one thing they and we both understand is that you can't slash your way to prosperity. Cut as the may, executives know they ultimately must generate new business and new revenue to improve their companies' financial performance.

And on that measure, the outlook is just as worrisome for the stock market as it is for the job market, Newman concluded. "Most American companies still rely on American consumers to keep business humming. Sooner or later, the U.S. job and stock markets need to go in the same direction," he wrote.

27 U.S States Now Have Jobess Rates of 8.5% or Higher

2009-11-05T07:09:00.000-08:00

More than half of the United States now has jobless rates of 8.5% or higher. Think about it: if you live in one of the following states, at least one out of every 11 people you encounter is involuntarily unemployed. (Included on the list, of course, is my home state of Nevada.) And that doesn't take into account the millions of additional workers who have been forced to part-time work, which means they've probably also lost their medical insurance as well:

Legislation passed by the Senate yesterday - and which is expected to easily pass the House of Representatives and be signed into law by President Obama - would extend unemployment insurance benefits another 14 weeks for all unemployed Americans who have exhausted their coverage, and provide an additional seven weeks of payments for residents of the states above, along with those living in the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico.

P.S. President Obama did indeed sign the legislation into law on Nov. 6, extending unemployment insurance coverage for millions of Americans.

The Double-Whammy: Uninsured and Unemployed

2009-11-02T13:35:00.000-08:00

Because mine and my family's health insurance was at one time provided through my then-employer (as is the case with two-thirds of all Americans), we lost our health insurance the same day I lost my job. (Don't get me started about the injustice of cutting off an employee's health insurance at 5 PM the same day you boot them out the company's door.)

Unlike many Americans, my family was lucky. My husband had managed to convert his contract position into a traditional job days before I got the axe. Because he was in the process of enrolling in the organization's insurance plan, he was able to have our daughter and I immediately covered by his plan. Had that not been the case, we would have faced premiums of $2,000 A MONTH to retain our previous coverage.

So, it comes to no surprise to anyone who's been following the economy and the U.S. health care crisis that this year's devastating job losses have likely increased the ranks of the uninsured by 4 million people. This number according to a new study by Families USA, a Washington, D.C., organization that advocates for consumer health care improvements.

___________________________
"People who receive a pink slip experience a double whammy. They not only lose their jobs, but they usually lose their health coverage as

well. That's why health reform is so important."

- Ron Pollack, Families USA executive director
__________________________________________

The bottom line? If companies can continue to behave so badly, eliminating workers' access to affordable health care with the flick of a termination letter, they must be required to join with the government to finance a public health care option for those they so thoughtlessly discard.

To access Families USA's report, click here.

Your Company and Layoffs - A Winning Combination!!!

2009-10-21T16:02:00.015-07:00

Are your company’s profits not growing as fast as they used to? Are shareholders getting upset? Well, why not consider layoffs?

This handy, easy-to-follow tutorial, courtesy of YouTube answers burning questions such as:

Are layoffs ethical?

"Corporat-ese," confusing euphemisms and other obfuscations that increase the comfort of executives delivering the bad news, all they while enabling them to actually not tell employees anything.

What to do about messy situations, like the employee scheduled for life-saving open-heart surgery next month, but who has now lost his health insurance because the company laid him off?

FREE outplacement advice often offered to soon-to-be-ex-employees.

When should companies give laid-off employees more than 5 minutes to clean out their offices?

And what about those company staplers?

In the "Isn't-That-Sort-Of-Obvious?" category: Getting Hired, Never a Picnic, is Increasingly a Trial, the NYT reports

2009-10-20T09:33:00.007-07:00

The trend of employers putting potential employees through a battery of interviews has intensified in the tough economic climate, The New York Times reports in today's edition in a story that talks about job seekers enduring five, six or seven interviews.

"But even if there are substantive reasons for companies to take so long to decide, many job hunters ask why so many employers interview them once, twice or more — and then never get back in touch. And for that question, no one had a good answer."

Alas, I don't have much insight into what leads to this behavior on the part of prospective employees, but for insight into what it feels like to be on the receiving end of this - and worse - behavior, please check out an article I wrote for the Chicago Tribune's business section.

Even during times of lower unemployment, things aren't always better, as The Wall Street Journal's Joann Lublin reported in this article, in which she quoted me and other mistreated job seekers who demanded "equal time" in the newspaper's pages after an article she wrote about misbehaving job candidates.

Being "THE MAN" has its benefits, but being healthier isn't necessarily one of them

2009-10-19T17:11:00.011-07:00

Inadvertently "Stickin' It to the Man"?

At many companies, executive-level employees enjoy a special health plan that covers 100% of their health care expenses. This can include all co-pays, Lasik surgery, every aspect of Junior's braces, physician-prescribed stays at fat farms and travel and accommodations to see out-of-town medical specialists. This same privilege isn't normally extended to rank-and-file employees, who pay standard co-pays and at least some percentage of the total cost of their health care.

But working stiffs can take heart: THE MAN in the corner office may appear tan, rested and ready to lop the heads of another 10% of the company's workforce, but new research by the University of Toronto shows that he is more likely to be plagued by psychological and physical problems that can offset any health benefits that you would assume result from that "highly compensated" job and its matching Lamborghini health plan.

The study, which involved 1,800 American workers from a variety of occupations and industries, found that those in positions of authority report:

Significantly higher levels of interpersonal conflict with others;

Are more likely to experience conflicts between work and family life; and

Are at increased risk for psychological distress, anger and poor health.

People with "job authority" were defined as those who direct or manage the work of others, or can hire or fire other employees.

The study's findings go to the heart of a seeming paradox in research about job stress: although people in higher status positions enjoy benefits that should translate to better health, they're usually not much healthier than workers without the perks.

"Unfortunately, there are also downsides to job authority that undermine or offset the upsides of having power at work," said the study's lead author, University of Toronto Sociology Professor Scott Schieman. "In most cases, the health costs negate the benefits."

(Not that it's all that relevant to this post, but if you want a laugh and insight into the image at the top of this post, check out the classic Sprint commercial from early 2001, "Dawn of a New Era," when blogs were as new and revolutionary as Twitter was last year.)

Study finds worrying about job security may be more damaging than losing a job

2009-10-19T09:13:00.003-07:00

Recently released findings of a longitudinal study that asked the same group of workers about their job security fears between 1986 and 1989, and then again between 1995 and 2005, has found that employees' fears of losing their jobs have grown dramatically.

But perhaps a more significant and surprising finding: constantly worrying about unemployment may be more damaging to a worker's health than actually losing a job. "In fact, chronic job insecurity was a stronger predictor of poor health than either smoking or hypertension in one of the groups we studied," said University of Michigan sociologist Sarah Burgard, with the University of Michigan's Institute for Social Research and co-author of the study.

"It may seem surprising that chronic high job-insecurity is more strongly linked with health declines than actual job loss or unemployment," Burgard said. "But there are a number of reasons why this is the case. Ongoing ambiguity about the future, inability to take action unless the feared event actually happens, and the lack of institutionalized supports associated with perceived insecurity are among them."

Given all that's at stake, these feelings are predictable, she added. "When you consider that not only income, but ... many important benefits that give Americans piece of mind - including health insurance and retirement benefits - are [often] tied to employment, it's understandable that persistent job insecurity is so stressful," Burgard said.

Organizations need to learn more about workplace conditions, activities or behaviors that cause these problems, and then intervene to decrease employees' perceptions of insecurity, she recommended.

"Certainly job insecurity is nothing new, but the numbers [of people] experiencing persistent job insecurity could be considerably higher during this global recession, so these findings could apply much more broadly today than they did even a few years ago," Burgard added.

The NYT pontificates on how good candidates can clear the HR hurdle

2009-10-12T11:17:00.005-07:00

The New York Times today offers so-so advice on how to get around the HR gatekeeper and get to the hiring manager when seeking a job for which you're not PERFECTLY qualified.

Most relevant passage:

If your only relationship with the company is electronic, via a job board or a posting, your chances are not good. H.R. people confronting hundreds of faceless online applications have one main goal: to weed out as many people as they can.

“The employer is not expected to be creative or flexible or see the opportunity in you that you think you might have” when the relationship is purely electronic, said Bernadette Kenny, chief career officer at Adecco North America, the staffing firm. She considers that to be an “unrealistic expectation on the part of the job seeker.”

But if you can establish personal contact with someone on the inside, you may be able to make your case. It’s tiresome to have to repeat this, and a lot of people don’t like to hear it, but it comes down to networking. Job seekers who don’t fit all the requirements “need to go around the gatekeeper; they need to find another door,” said Barbara Safani, owner of Career Solvers, a career management firm in New York. If you are introduced to a hiring manager by someone you know, there is more trust, and suddenly “things aren’t as important as they appeared to be on that job spec,” she said.

You're Hired ... NOT!

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