Free Republic

LAKSHMAN ACHUTHAN: Yes, It's Possible To Be In A Recession With GDP Growth At 2.5% Sam RoApr. 26, 2013, 10:37 AMEarlier today, we learned that real GDP grew at a 2.5% rate in Q1. While this was much lower than the 3.0% growth rate forecasted by economists, it still seems to be a clear indicator of economic growth. But not everyone sees it that way. Lakshman Achuthan of the Economic Cycle Research Institute has long argued that the U.S. economy slipped into a recession in mid-2012. And he is convinced that we continue to be in a recession now. We...

Hiding The Unemployed: Disability And The Politics Of Stats Wendy McElroyApril 26, 2013 Some statistics cannot be understood without being set within a political framework, because they reflect politics as much as, or more than, they do reality. The unemployment rate is an example and a cautionary tale. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the seasonally adjusted official unemployment rate for February fell to a four-year national low of 7.7%. While the White House cautiously congratulated itself, Republicans quickly pointed to what is often called the real unemployment rate; it stood at 14.3%.The BLS looks at six categories...

<p>The number of Americans designated as "not in the labor force" in February was 89,304,000, a record high, up from 89,008,000 in January, according to the Department of Labor. This means that the number of Americans not in the labor force increased 296,000 between January and February.</p>

Homeland prepares budget cuts, up to 1,000 furloughs at Secret Service • As many as 1,000 Secret Service agents, officers and workers could be furloughed as Homeland Security prepares for sequestration Bracing for the possibility of budget sequestration next month, the Homeland Security Department is making plans to furlough as many as 1,000 Secret Service agents, officers and others employees, officials say. Homeland Security issued its first agency-wide memorandum late last week preparing for sequestration, the sweeping automatic budget cuts set to take effect as early as March 1 under a prior deal between the White House and Congress to...

Employers may be hiring, but there's another big problem with the job market that isn't being tracked as closely: the hopelessly unemployed. An often overlooked number calculated by the Labor Department shows millions of Americans want a job but haven't searched for one in at least a year. They've simply given up hope. They're not counted as part of the labor force, the official unemployment rate, or the category the Labor Department refers to as "discouraged workers" -- those who haven't bothered to look for work in the last four weeks. These hopelessly unemployed workers have just been jobless so...

NAVY DOLPHINS’ WORK WILL BE OUTSOURCED Robots to pick up animals’ tasks, like some detection of mines Like the factory worker and travel agent before them, some Navy dolphins trained to hunt down mines are scheduled to be replaced by computers in five years. However, the Navy’s marine mammals aren’t going away. Military-trained dolphins and sea lions will continue to be used for port security and retrieving objects from the sea floor — jobs they are still better at than machines. The Navy’s $28 million marine mammal program, headquartered in San Diego, uses 80 bottlenose dolphins and 40 California sea...

If you’re one of many who are currently unemployed, you may be in luck. According to the Atlanta Business Chronicle, one area real estate company is willing to invest thousands to create new job opportunities. However, there is a catch. Frank Duffy of Duffy Realty says he will only create the jobs if Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney wins this Tuesday’s election.

The local economy, already bruised by a persistently high jobless rate, could take another hit as the new year begins, regardless of who is elected president. That's because all federal extended unemployment benefits will expire Dec. 29 unless Congress acts to extend them again. If the expiration occurs, North Carolinians would receive just up to 26 weeks of regular state benefits if they qualify for unemployment benefits, rather than what had been up to 99 weeks of state and federal benefits. Which means anyone whose job was terminated or ended after June 30 will not get any more federal unemployment...

Just announced!

The slowest economic recovery since World War II is going especially slow for sections of Colorado ... Whereas the unemployment rate doesn’t include people who are out of work, but have given up looking for a job, the “Not Employed Rate” gives a fuller picture of the dire economic situation many Coloradans are currently facing. Colorado has faced one of the slowest economic recoveries in the nation coming out of the recession.

New TV series sets sights on chronically unemployedBy Peter Schroeder - 08/10/12 09:00 AM ET A new series premiering on the Sundance Channel is aiming to put a fresh face on the overwhelming issue on the campaign trail and in Washington: joblessness. On Thursday, the cable network screened in Washington its premiere episode of "Get to Work," a new series that focuses on the efforts of the chronically unemployed to develop the skills needed to get a job. The Hill was a media partner with Sundance for the event. The program focuses on the STRIVE program out of Second Chance...

I am a 62 year old engineer who is wheelchair bound. I just got laid off from my job, and I have applied to like 50 jobs so far with no success. I doubt I find one before the election because everyone is afraid to hire because of the uncertainty, and with Obamacare looming, I don't blame them. If Obama is re-elected I am afraid my goose is cooked along with millions of others in the same shape that I am. It's not my nature to seek handouts, so applying for disabilty, social security, etc. is not an option for...

Labor Dept. Estimates $7.1 Billion in Overpayments to UnemployedBy ALICE GOMSTYN ABC NEWS Business Unit July 9, 2010 While many Americans are feeling the pain of expired unemployment benefits, some have gotten a good chunk more than they were legally eligible for. Preliminary estimates released by the U.S. Department of Labor find that, in 2009, states made more than $7.1 billion in overpayments in unemployment insurance, up from $4.2 billion the year before. The total amount of unemployment benefits paid in 2009 was $76.8 billion, compared to $41.6 billion in 2008. Fraud accounted for $1.55 billion in estimated overpayments last...

The number of people seeking U.S. unemployment benefits fell last week, but the level of applications remains too high to signal a pickup in hiring. The Labor Department said Thursday that weekly applications fell to a seasonally adjusted 386,000. That’s down from 392,000 the previous week, which was revised up. The four-week average, which smooths week-to-week fluctuations, was mostly unchanged at 386,750.

An unemployed Brooklyn man missed a job interview Tuesday for the best of reasons: He was saving the life of a 9-month-old boy who was blown into the path of an oncoming subway train by a gust of high wind. Like a superhero without a cape, Delroy Simmonds jumped onto the elevated tracks and hoisted the bleeding child — still strapped into his stroller — to the safety of the platform as the J train bore down on them. The father of two then shrugged off his courageous, selfless act. “Everybody is making me out to be some sort of...

Defense attorney Roy Kulcsar disbarred for using inmates to recruit new clients Attorney -- who defended terrorist Ramzi Yousef -- paid prisoners through commissary accounts Renowned defense attorney Roy Kulcsar didn’t chase ambulances — just inmates. And to make sure he caught them, he paid cash. Kulcsar funneled nearly $20,000 in illegal “retainers” to dozens of federal prisoners as compensation for steering fellow felons to his law practice, authorities said. The cash-for-clients deal operated between August 2004 and February 2010, with Kulcsar depositing funds into prison commissary accounts, a federal disciplinary committee reported last month. Kulcsar, who once represented 1993...

One in Three Young Vets is Unemployed; Unemployment for African American Vets Tops 40% Despite across-the-board high U.S. unemployment and the platitudes of government officials, Congress and the President still hew to policies that allow almost a million new legal immigrant workers to enter the country annually. The unemployment picture for returning veterans is particularly grim. One in three young vets is unemployed. Recently returning veterans age 18 to 24 are being disproportionately affected. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, in 2011, young male veterans had an unemployment rate of 29.1 percent, nearly double the rate of their nonveteran...

America’s jobless are unionizing, or at least furthering an agenda of one of the nation’s biggest unions. An organization aimed at giving the unemployed more influence has announced it now has more than 100,000 jobless activists in their ranks. The Union of Unemployed (UCubed) Activists is an Internet-centric “community service project” of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) — one of the country’s largest industrial trade unions. “Our objective is to pull together unemployed Americans in a way that allows them to connect, communicate and press their political leaders for policies that will get them back to...

The Obama administration on Wednesday acknowledged a wide-ranging definition of “green jobs” that includes bus driver, bicycle-shop clerk and other unexpected lines of employment, which the chairman of the GOP-led House oversight committee said is being done for “clearly political purposes.” GOP Rep. Darrell Issa, chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, made the assertion during a hearing on how the administration counts so-called green jobs and the Labor Department’s recent change to how reporters can access key unemployment reports and other information. The Labor Department "has jeopardized the integrity of employment data in some cases for...

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Michelle Obama led pep rallies for hundreds of supporters Wednesday and predicted a tight race for her husband come November, saying campaign will need the same grass-roots efforts as last time in order to win. The first lady addressed hundreds of supporters at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, hours after holding a fundraising event at The Pierre hotel in New York City. In Philadelphia, she urged supporters to keep knocking on doors, making phone calls and telling others about the successes of the past four years — ticking off items such as tax cuts, job gains...

Report says 230,000 unemployed losing benefits over weekendBy Vicki Needham - 05/13/12 06:24 PM ET More than 230,000 unemployed workers will lose their jobless benefits this weekend as portions of federal programs expire across several states. All told, 409,300 long-term unemployed Americans in 27 states will have lost upward of 20 weeks of federal unemployment benefits by this past Saturday, even as the many state jobless rates remain high, according to a new analysis by the National Employment Law Project (NELP). The latest batch of cuts affects 236,300 unemployed people in eight states — California (11%), Texas (7%) Pennsylvania (7.5%),...

Abbott and Costello Do Unemployment (Someone e-mailed this cleverly written riff to me just after the April 2012 Obama unemployment figures were released. If they were alive, I am sure that Abbott and Costello would do a gag just like this.) COSTELLO: I want to talk about the unemployment rate in America . ABBOTT: Good Subject. Terrible times. It’s 9%. COSTELLO: That many people are out of work? ABBOTT: No, that’s 16%. COSTELLO: You just said 9%. ABBOTT: 9% Unemployed. COSTELLO: Right 9% out of work. ABBOTT: No, that’s 16%. COSTELLO: Okay, so it’s 16% unemployed. ABBOTT: No, that’s 9%…...

Pew is out with a new study (.pdf) about the long-term unemployed in America. The long-tern unemployed are people who have been unemployed at least a year, and as you can see (and as you should know by know), the scale of the problem these days is way bigger than it has been during any other period over the last half a century. Click the chart to enlarge. What's interesting is that the population that makes up the long-term unemployed is very different than the unemployed population as a whole. Check out this breakdown of the unemployed and long-term unemployed...

The number of Americans who filed requests for jobless benefits was virtually unchanged last week at 388,000, the U.S. Labor Department said Thursday, keeping claims near their highest level of 2012. Claims from two weeks ago were revised up to 389,000 from 386,000.

My last interview was typical of the new "selection process" employers utilize to weed out the unwanted and unemployable. The first interview was only round one in the boxing ring fighting to get a job. The recruiter gave us the heads up about the selection process. "Today is the first round, and out of that group we will select those who will be brought back for a second interview. If that goes well, we'll have a third interview, where we will interrogate you with a Tae Kwon Do master on hand. You will be tied to a chair with rope...

Some say “It’s the jobs stupid,” a variation of the prescient admonition of Bill Clinton’s 1992 election campaign. Well, if it’s all about the jobs, how will the incumbent Barack Obama fare against a Republican opponent, whoever that might be? Rep. Jim Jordan, chairman of the Republican Study Committee, makes a case that others have alluded to – the vast number of Americans not counted among the official “unemployed.” The administration may be able to doctor the officially blessed data released monthly, but . . .

ART CASHIN: The Unemployed Are Now Going On Disability And It's Costing The Government Billions Sam RoFebuary 14, 2012 In this morning's Cashin's Comments, Art Cashin points to some disturbing research regarding the recent bump in disability benefit applications: I’m Sick Of Being Unemployed - A couple of strange and rather disquieting reports circulated among the Friends of Fermentation yesterday. The topic was unemployment or, more specifically, where do those people go who have stopped looking for work. Their absence is credited with distorting the unemployment rate and making it lower than most expect or believe. The reports I allude...

The Register is reporting this morning that private employers added 170,000 jobs in January. So, isn’t that good news? Well, probably for those 170,000 people, whoever they are. But economists tell us that, give or take, from 125,000 to 200,000 enter the job market monthly. That means . . .

President Barack Obama took office in January 2009 after having campaigned on the broad promise of "hope" and "change." However, to stay in office, there is one thing President Obama should hope for: an improvement in the employment picture before the 2012 elections. The last three years have seen some of the highest unemployment rates reported since the Great Depression. The official rate moved from 5 percent in January 2008 to a high of 10.1 percent in October 2009, and a current rate of 8.6 percent. It rests 3 points above the 1948-2007 average of 5.6 percent. Unfortunately, the reality...

Have the youth given up on Obama? By Brad Chase - Special to CNN In 2008, the youth vote helped sweep Barack Obama into office.  Americans 18-29 spread the word on social media, energized fundraising and went to the polls. In 2012, the youth vote is moving on and throwing those omnipresent “Hope” bumper stickers and t-shirts in garbage bins.   Not because of apathy.  Not because another candidate generates more enthusiasm.  Not because of his character.  Not because they think voting is pointless.  The 18-29 vote is up for grabs in 2012 because youth can’t afford cars to put...

After it was revealed yesterday that an increasing number of women are using the sex industry to pay their way through university, one woman has told her story of stripping while studying. Emma Green, of Glamorgan, Wales, turned to stripping on a webcam for men and earned £200-a-week to fund her studies. The 25-year-old, who studied multi-media design at Glamorgan University before spending another year at a beauty therapy college in 2009, says a normal part-time job was out of the question because of her intense course workload.

The remains of hundreds of Los Angeles County residents whose bodies were never claimed by family or friends were buried in a mass grave Wednesday. “This holiday season many of us are reminded how fortunate we are to be surrounded by our loved ones,” Supervisor Don Knabe said Tuesday, when he and his colleagues on the Board of Supervisors observed a moment of silence for the people being buried. “Sadly, not everyone shares this blessing.” He said the 1,639 people designated for the mass interment at the Los Angeles County Crematory and Cemetery “are individuals that, for one reason or...

Yesterday’s unemployment report offered some encouraging signals, and some discouraging signals. It was nice the headline rate dropped. But, it was sad that there is a continued exodus of productive labor from the labor force. People are frustrated and can’t find a job. Erik Hurst hit the nail on the head last week. Austan Goolsbee made a similar point. In previous recessions, the economy would bottom and then have a very strong comeback. So if we dropped by 3%, we’d pop by 6% or more. When the economy popped, old jobs that disappeared would reappear. If you were an out...

In an interview with Wolf Blitzer, Herman Cain said a new accuser would be coming forward to accuse him of having a 13-year affair with him. No links yet as the story is currently breaking and details are still being released. Apparentally a Georgia TV station has the exclusive.

First it was Keystone, now it’s coast-to-coast. Scared to affront his base in an election year, Obama has imposed a five-year drilling ban on a majority of offshore areas. This is particularly disappointing given America’s persistent unemployment. Unfortunately, this comes as no surprise. Obama’s recent decision to punt on Keystone may have effectively killed the project, and the thousands of jobs needed to complete the pipeline. Like Keystone, the Department of Interior’s five year lease plan leaves hundreds of thousands of jobs on the table. The Institute for Energy Research’s Dan Simmons points out a few facts about offshore oil...

Occupy Wall Street demonstrators dance in front of the New York City Police during what protest organizers call a "Day of Action" in New York November 17, 2011. Hundreds of Occupy Wall Street protesters marched through New York's financial district toward the stock exchange on Thursday to protest economic inequality at the heart of the American capitalism. Sunni Justice 27, unemployed, poses for a portrait in the Occupy Toronto camp at St James Park, Toronto, November 7, 2011. Sunni said, "..why am I here? Simple answer is because I care about the earth and I care about my fellow brothers...

George W. Bush-era energy policy wonks are finding a new home with Mitt Romney. The former Massachusetts governor can count on support from a who’s who of former Bush officials willing to raise money, brainstorm policy ideas and generally help spread the word among the ranks of like-minded GOP energy experts. Already on board the Romney train are Jim Connaughton, who ran Bush’s White House Council on Environmental Quality for all eight years; former Assistant Energy Secretary Andy Karsner; former EPA air chief Jeff Holmstead; and former EPA congressional affairs liaison Edward Krenik. The former Bush officials all told POLITICO...

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama acknowledged on Wednesday that black Americans have faced "enormous challenges" with unemployment under his watch, and appealed for their support in pursuing solutions that he can implement without help from Congress. Appearing at a daylong White House summit of black business, community and political leaders, Obama said the current 15.1 percent unemployment rate among blacks is "way too high," and that various other problems that plagued black communities before he took office, such as housing and education, have worsened.

President Barack Obama vowed on Monday to do “everything” in his “power” to “act on behalf of the American people with or without Congress.” Obama announced three administrative actions that the White House is taking to help veterans find employment as “part of a series of executive actions to put Americans back to work and strengthen the economy.”

WASHINGTON (AP) — The jobs crisis has left so many people out of work for so long that most of America's unemployed are no longer receiving unemployment benefits. Early last year, 75 percent were receiving checks. The figure is now 48 percent — a shift that points to a growing crisis of long-term unemployment. Nearly one-third of America's 14 million unemployed have had no job for a year or more. Congress is expected to decide by year's end whether to continue providing emergency unemployment benefits for up to 99 weeks in the hardest-hit states. If the emergency benefits expire, the...

Lowe's Cos Inc (LOW.N) said on Monday it is closing 20 of its U.S. stores, eliminating nearly 2,000 jobs, and the home improvement retailer now plans to open far fewer locations in the future, citing the need to improve its profitability. Lowe's, which operates about 1,700 stores in the United States, said it closed 10 stores on Sunday and would close another 10 within a month. The expenses associated with the closing will come to 17 cents to 20 cents per share. Some 1,950 workers will lose their jobs.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- For more Americans, being out of work has become a semi-permanent condition. Nearly one-third of the unemployed - nearly 4.5 million people - have had no job for a year or more. That's a record high. Many are older workers who have found it especially hard to find jobs. And economists say their prospects won't brighten much even after the economy starts to strengthen and hiring picks up. Even if they can find a job, it will likely pay far less than their old ones did. The outlook is unlikely to improve on Friday, when the government...

Mortgage help for unemployed disappears Tami Luhby, On Monday October 3, 2011, 5:44 am EDT The federal government can't even give money away to help the unemployed pay their mortgage. A $1 billion program to assist the jobless will likely end up spending only half the funds, at most, because so few people met the strict criteria. The Housing Department, which had to approve the applications for the Emergency Homeowners' Loan Program by Friday, expects that only 10,000 to 15,000 people will qualify. That's only a small sliver of the roughly 100,000 who applied. "No one could have anticipated how...

Last month, my fellow Chicagoan sent to Congress his latest misguided plan to bolster the U.S. economy. In his speech announcing the American Jobs Act, the president declared, without equivocation, that the bill was all or nothing.  “No games. No politics. No delays," he said, adding that he would veto any changes made by Republican lawmakers. In his effort to perpetuate the myth that government creates jobs, Obama performed some deft slight-of-hand. For instance, he failed to mention the fact that his $450 billion jobs bill will be funded by the largest tax increase in history, coming to a W-2...

Advocates for the unemployed have cheered a push by the Obama administration to ban discrimination against the jobless. But business groups and their allies are calling the effort unnecessary and counterproductive. The job creation bill that President Obama sent to Congress earlier this month includes a provision that would allow unsuccessful job applicants to sue if they think a company of 15 more employees denied them a job because they were unemployed. The provision would ban employment ads that explicitly declare the unemployed ineligible, with phrases like "Jobless need not apply." As The Lookout has reported, such ads appear to...

President Obama has not been particularly successful in fostering the creation of jobs. But he thinks he has found a way to pry open doors in the workplace for many of the unemployed, especially those who have been out of work for a long time. Mr. Obama’s jobs bill would prohibit employers from discriminating against job applicants because they are unemployed.

President Obama has not been particularly successful in fostering the creation of jobs. But he thinks he has found a way to pry open doors in the workplace for many of the unemployed, especially those who have been out of work for a long time. Mr. Obama’s jobs bill would prohibit employers from discriminating against job applicants because they are unemployed. Under the proposal, it would be “an unlawful employment practice” if a business with 15 or more employees refused to hire a person “because of the individual’s status as unemployed.” Unsuccessful job applicants could sue and recover damages for...

Well, at least they’re focusing on jobs, even if only for trial lawyers.The latest brilliant plan to get people back to work seems to focus on… wait for it… punishing potential employers by dragging them into court on a whole new class of discrimination based lawsuits. The idea, spearheaded by Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) and a handful of other Democrats, would identify employers who run advertisements which specifically seek to avoid hiring people who are currently unemployed and allow them to be taken to court on some form of discrimination charge. Lawyers should be allowed to win financial damages from...

With both jobs and immigration likely topics of sharp debate at tonight's Republican debate here in Florida, a new report suggests that newly-arrived immigrants have filled a majority of new jobs created in Texas, home to Republican frontrunner Gov. Rick Perry. "Of jobs created in Texas since 2007, 81 percent were taken by newly arrived immigrant workers (legal and illegal)," says the report from the Center for Immigration Studies, a group that advocates reduced levels of both legal and illegal immigration. The report estimates that about 40 percent of the new jobs were taken by illegal immigrants, while 40 percent...