According to the Labor Department, the economy lost 467,000 jobs last month, raising the unemployment rate to 9.5 percent. But that is if you just include the traditional unemployed workers and not broader measures of unemployment and underemployment.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics releases a measurement called U6 which is alternatively called the effective unemployment rate. [...]
Alabama State Unemployment
In post number 1 out of this state unemployment series, I have combined some data on unemployment in the state of Alabama. Alabama currently has an unemployment rate of 9.8%. Compare this to the highest Alabama unemployment rate of 14.4% in Dec. 1982 and the lowest rate of unemployment (3.3% in Feb. [...]
The Gannett Company owns the largest newspaper chain in the United States (USA Today). As previously reported, the newspaper industry has been facing steep declines in revenues and has laid off many reporters and staffs. Gannett Company has seen advertising revenue fall more than 30% in the first year from the first quarter of 2008.
The [...]
AIG, a company infamous in this recession, has announced a 20-for-1 reverse stock split. This means investors who had 20 shares will now own 1 share. I am not sure what happens if you owned less than 20 shares but perhaps you receive a cash payment and are forced out?
Not sure what the logic is [...]
According to CNET, Myspace will be laying off almost 30% of their staff. The cuts will be nearly 500 positions in total out of a workforce of approximately 1500 workers. Myspace has been challenged lately by Facebook’s rapid growth both domestically and internationally. It is describing the layoff as a “return to start-up culture.”
Data Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics
This is a graph of initial unemployment insurance claims by month starting in January 2008. It shows a drastic spike until September 2008 then a plateau until January 2009. Initial unemployment insurance claims appear to be declining from a high in March.
According to the Associated Press, the recent $25 boost to unemployment checks has been disqualifying people from receiving food stamps. The $25 boost for the jobless was part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act that passed through Congress in record time. Unfortunately, so little time was given for analysis that the ramifications of the [...]
On Friday (June 12th), the Dow Jones Industrial Average marched into positive territory for the year when it ended at 8,776. Despite all of the carnage and the approximately 30% decline in value that climaxed in early March. In the past 52 weeks, the Dow Jones Industrial Average has dropped preciptuously from 12,322.82 to a [...]
A survey of Economists by the Wall Street Journal reveals the consensus view that the recession will end by September. However, this won’t necessarily mean all of the bad news is behind us after summer’s end. The economists believe it will take until the second half of 2010 for unemployment to fall. That means at [...]
Unemployment is a serious subject. Yet there is a new word that is appearing in the community vernacular: funemployed. According to Urban Dictionary, funemployed means “the state of being without a job, yet having lots of time to enjoy fun activities during otherwise normal working hours.”
This is mainly an attitude singles in their 20s and [...]
Most of the posts I write are about layoffs that have happened or what to do if you have been laid off. There isn’t much relevancy to those readers who are currently employed unless they have a friend who has been laid off or are nervous about their own job. So I’ve compiled a few [...]
Original Source: ADP National Employment Report (May)
The red line is my prediction for the an optimal scenario of recovery in employment. I believe we will stop the hemorrhaging of jobs around April 2010. It will take a while for the economy to grow and recover the number of jobs lost during this recession. But once [...]
Source: ADP National Employment Report (May)
This chart was too interesting for me to pass up. It shows that the recession of 2008/2009 has been nearly twice as devastating on employment as the recession of 2001. The recovery trajectory also foretells how the economic recovery might begin for the 2009 recession. It will likely begin later [...]
According to the ADP National Employment Report released this morning, nonfarm private employment decreased 532,000 from April to May 2009 on a seasonally adjusted basis. This is good news as it shows the acceleration in job losses has disappeared and we may start approaching reduced levels of layoffs.
According to ADP’s report, monthly losses in April [...]
Today GM declared bankruptcy. Yesterday I wrote about the possible implications this could have for our economy nationwide. Below is a list of where GM factories and GM production plants will be shutdown. Obviously, many of these closings will lead to a significant number of layoffs.
GM Closings in Michigan: 7
GM Closings in Ohio: 3
GM Closings [...]