Hopes for a quick decline in US joblessness dim

© AFP/Getty Images/File Justin Sullivan

AFP

WASHINGTON (AFP) - US economists were anticipating more bad news in the jobs market when the government releases new figures for April on Friday, after a week of data suggested economic growth slowing more than anticipated.

With the unemployment rate still a grinding 8.8 percent, an expected poor number for positions created across the country last month could put new pressure on the government to find more ways to help the jobless.

On Thursday a surprising jump in the weekly indicator on new unemployment claims sent worries through the economy, helping to push the Dow Jones Industrial Average down 1.1 percent.

High jobless rate streak could break '80s record

Job Fair - photo: Mark Wilson/Getty

Paul Davidson
USA TODAY

Not since the early 1980s has the nation's unemployment rate been so grim for so long, a government report due Friday is likely to show.

Many economists predict the report will say that November's jobless rate held steady at 9.6%, making it the 19th consecutive month that the unemployment rate was above 9%. That breaks the post-World War II record set in the 1980s recession.

The dubious milestone shows that even if job growth picks up as expected in coming months, progress will be slow, and it will take years to put a big dent in the unemployment rate.

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2 million lose jobless benefits as holidays arrive

Tom Breen
Associated Press

Extended unemployment benefits for nearly 2 million Americans begin to run out Wednesday, cutting off a steady stream of income and guaranteeing a dismal holiday season for people already struggling with bills they cannot pay.

Unless Congress changes its mind, benefits that had been extended up to 99 weeks will end this month.

That means Christmas is out of the question for Wayne Pittman, 46, of Lawrenceville, Ga., and his wife and 9-year-old son. The carpenter was working up to 80 hours a week at the beginning of the decade, but saw that gradually drop to 15 hours before it dried up completely. His last $297 check will go to necessities, not presents

"I have a little boy, and that's kind of hard to explain to him," Pittman said.


The average weekly unemployment benefit in the U.S. is $302.90, though it varies widely depending on how states calculate the payment. Because of supplemental state programs and other factors, it's hard to know for sure who will lose their benefits at any given time. But the Labor Department estimates that, without a Congress-approved extension, about 2 million people will be cut off by Christmas.

Congressional opponents of extending the benefits beyond this month say fiscal responsibility should come first. Republicans in the House and Senate, along with a handful of conservative Democrats, say they're open to extending benefits, but not if it means adding to the $13.8 trillion national debt.

Even if Congress does lengthen benefits, cash assistance is at best a stopgap measure, said Carol Hardison, executive director of Crisis Assistance Ministry in Charlotte, N.C., which has seen 20,000 new clients since the Great Recession started in December 2007.

"We're going to have to have a new conversation with the people who are still suffering, about the potentially drastic changes they're going to have to make to stay out of the homeless shelter," she said.

Forget Christmas presents. What the so-called "99ers" want most of all is what remains elusive in the worst economy in generations: a job.

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The REAL Unemployment Rate Is 22%

The Daily Bell

Details from John William’s Shadow Stats:

The seasonally-adjusted SGS Alternate Unemployment Rate reflects current unemployment reporting methodology adjusted for SGS-estimated long-term discouraged workers, who were defined out of official existence in 1994. That estimate is added to the BLS estimate of U-6 unemployment, which includes short-term discouraged workers.

The U-3 unemployment rate is the monthly headline number. The U-6 unemployment rate is the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ (BLS) broadest unemployment measure, including short-term discouraged and other marginally-attached workers as well as those forced to work part-time because they cannot find full-time employment.

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Food Stamp Usage Soars Among Working Families

Mark Niesse
Associated Press

HONOLULU — Lillie Gonzales does whatever it takes to provide for three ravenous sons who live under her roof. She grows her own vegetables at home on Kauai, runs her own small business and like a record 42 million other Americans, she relies on food stamps.

Gonzales and her husband consistently qualify for food stamps now that Hawaii and other states are quietly expanding eligibility and offering the benefit to more working, moderate income families.


Data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture reviewed by The Associated Press shows that 32 states have adopted rules making it easier to qualify for food stamps since 2007. In all, 38 states have loosened eligibility standards.


Hawaii has gone farther than most, allowing a family like Gonzales' to earn up to $59,328 and still get food stamps.

Prior to an Oct. 1 increase, the income eligibility limit for a Hawaii family of five was $38,568 a year.

"If I didn't have food stamps, I would be buying white rice and Spam every day," said Gonzales, whose Island Angels business makes Hawaiian-style fabric angel ornaments, quilts, aprons and purses.

Eligibility for food stamps varies from state to state, with the 11 most generous states allowing families to apply if their gross income is less than double the federal poverty line of $22,050 for a family of four on the U.S. mainland. The threshold is higher in Alaska and Hawaii.

With more than 1 in 8 Americans now on food stamps, participation in the program has jumped about 70 percent from 26 million in May 2007, while the nation's unemployment rate rose from 4.3 percent to 9.2 percent through September of this year.

"We've seen a huge increase in participation due to the economic downturn," said Jean Daniel, a spokeswoman for the USDA's Food and Nutrition Service. "That's the way this program was designed."

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September Jobs Report Reveals America’s Emerging Third World Economy

Paul Craig Roberts
VDare

For a number of years I reported on the monthly nonfarm payroll jobs data. The data did not support the praises economists were singing to the "New Economy." The "New Economy" consisted, allegedly, of financial services, innovation, and high-tech services.

This economy was taking the place of the old "dirty fingernail" economy ofindustry and manufacturing. Education would retrain the workforce, and we would move on to a higher level of prosperity.

Time after time I reported that there was no sign of the "New Economy" jobs, but that the old economy jobs were disappearing. The only net new jobs were in lowly paid domestic services such as waitresses and bartenders, retail clerks, health care and social assistance (mainly ambulatory health care services), and, before the bubble burst, construction.

The facts, issued monthly by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, had no impact on the "New Economy" propaganda. Economists continued to wax eloquently about how globalism was a boon for our future.

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10 Signs the U.S. is Becoming a Third World Country

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