Unemployment-rate record: 14th month above 9.5%, beats record from 1982-83

Unemployment-rate record: 14th month above 9.5%

Tom Abate, Chronicle Staff Writer

Saturday, October 9, 2010

The U.S. unemployment rate held steady at 9.6 percent in September as Republicans and Democrats sparred over the last national jobs report before the midterm congressional elections.
According to figures issued Friday by the Labor Department, the nation lost 95,000 jobs last month as local government layoffs wiped out modest gains in private-sector hiring.
September set an unenviable record as the 14th consecutive month that unemployment has exceeded 9.5 percent, beating the 13 months from 1982 to 1983 that had marked the longest prior spell of elevated joblessness since 1948.
House Minority Leader John Boehner used Friday's report to argue for a Republican takeover of Congress, mocking the Obama administration for promising that its stimulus program would keep unemployment under 8 percent.
"That's what you got for your $797 billion: record high unemployment," Boehner said while campaigning in his home state of Ohio.
Rep. George Miller, the Martinez Democrat allied with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, said the economy had been losing nearly 800,000 jobs per month under President Bush. Miller noted that September marked the ninth straight month of private-sector job gains, calling it proof of "just how much our economy has improved since the Republican recession began."
Other observers found both good and bad in the report.
"The economy is on a very slow upswing," said Sung Won Sohn, an economic forecaster with Cal State Channel Islands.
James Bullard, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, told CNBC that "the risk of a double-dip recession has probably receded some in the last six to eight weeks."
No one is satisfied with overall job growth, which has been weak in this recovery - as it was during the last two recessions since 1990 as globalism and technology began to change the U.S. economy.
But while the job market is not bouncing back as strongly as had been the case in recessions before 1990, Friday's report suggests that the United States is at least following the new recovery pattern.
For instance, temporary employee hiring rose in September, continuing a yearlong uptick. As reported by The Chronicle in November and confirmed by a Labor Department study in September, since 1990 employers have hired and fired temps as a way to control labor costs during recoveries and before recessions.
Highlighting that point, the American Staffing Association said Friday that temp jobs have increased 23 percent since September 2009.
"This is the highest year-to-year percentage increase since (the Labor Department) first began measuring staffing," the group said.
But for the 14.8 million unemployed Americans, this slow-motion recovery is painful.
The average duration of unemployment now stands at eight months, according to the National Employment Law Project, an advocacy group.
About 9 million Americans are collecting unemployment benefits, with about 5 million of these getting extended benefits that are currently slated to expire Nov. 30, the group said.
The Republican minority has so far resisted efforts by majority Democrats to extend unemployment benefits and other economic stimuli, and with Congress up for grabs in November, the future direction of U.S. economic policy remains uncertain.

Unemployment Benefits Lapse Causes Panic And Confusion For The Jobless

Unemployment Benefits Lapse Causes Panic And
Confusion For The Jobless



First Posted: 06- 9-10 02:29 PM   |   Updated: 06- 9-10 04:45
PM

Robert Lovejoy and his wife are losing sleep because they're unexpectedly losing their unemployment benefits.
"We get up earlier -- we can't sleep in because our minds are racing," said Lovejoy, who told HuffPost he'd received his final check on Wednesday, six months after losing his job as a video colorist for a production company in Philadelphia. "It's the difference between having health insurance, having an automobile and not being in default with my creditors."
The Lovejoys are among 42,800 long-term unemployed who will stop receiving benefits from the Pennsylvania Department of Labor & Industry by the end of this week, according to U.S. Labor Department data. Across the country, 323,400 will prematurely exhaust their benefits this week because Congress failed to reauthorize several domestic aid programs before they lapsed on June 1, after the House and Senate left Washington for a Memorial Day recess.
The House passed its version of the "tax extenders" bill to preserve the unemployment benefits -- along with money to help states administer Medicaid programs and extra reimbursement for doctors who see Medicare patients, among other things -- on May 28, after the Senate had already skipped town. Now senators are fighting over the cost of the package and will probably not get it done until next week. The stimulus and several subsequent bills had given the unemployed extra weeks of benefits on top of the standard 26 weeks made available by states. In some areas, laid-off workers could get 99 weeks of benefits.
People like the Lovejoys will receive any benefits they missed after the president signs the bill, whenever that happens. Until then, they'll have to make do. Even one missed check can make life difficult for people who have already gone six months on only $320 week, the average size of an unemployment check.
"I think it's terrible that families, on top of everything else, are going through an emotional roller coaster," said Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) when asked by HuffPost Wednesday about the people missing checks. "Up and down. What's going to happen to them? Are they going to be able to make the house payment? Are they going to be able to put food on the table?"
"I think this is outrageous," said Sen. Jack Reed, Democrat of Rhode Island, where the unemployment rate is above 12 percent. "We have never failed to extend emergency benefits while the unemployment rate in the country is above 7.4 percent. This goes back several decades, several different administrations, it was done routinely, it was done because these people need our help."
There are fifteen states where unemployed folks receiving benefits should not be affected by the lapse. But even people in those states can become confused and panicky when they hear Congress allowed extended benefits programs to lapse. That's what happened to Stabenow constituent Erin Jones, 33, who lost her job as a civil engineer last October and thought she'd be ineligible for more unemployment benefits after her first 26 weeks ran out at the end of May.
"I won't have any money coming in until the bill is passed," wrote Jones in an email to HuffPost. "My savings have been spent, I don't know where I'm going to get the money for my next mortgage payment."
But Michigan is one of the states where people who otherwise could get benefits through the federally-funded Emergency Unemployment Compensation program can instead switch over to the "Extended Benefits" program, which provides up to 20 weeks. After Jones checked back with the Michigan Unemployment Insurance Agency, she learned that she had panicked prematurely. "They were late getting my last payment out and when it didn't show up when it was supposed to, I assumed all was lost."
Up and down the roller coaster.
Jones' case shows another cost of the congressional delay: the administrative burden on state workforce agencies fielding calls from panicked layoff victims. "It certainly causes some confusion on the part of unemployed workers in this state who are receiving these benefits," said Michigan UIA spokesman Norm Isotalo. "It creates additional work for the agency."
The Lovejoys, for their part, already planned to move from Cherry Hill, N.J., a Philadelphia suburb, to Sylva, N.C., where they can live for less in a trailer. Robert Lovejoy, 63, told HuffPost they'd been unable to make the $2,700 monthly house payment when he lost his job and began drawing less than $500 a week in unemployment benefits. A significant chunk of the money went instead to monthly payments to maintain health insurance from his former employer via the federal COBRA program, which even with a 65 percent subsidy -- a subsidy that is on the congressional chopping block -- cost more than $500, according to Lovejoy. He said his wife is a cancer survivor.
"I don't want anybody to be in our situation, and we're relatively well-off," he said. "I don't think the senators are realizing how much of a personal vital link it is."
States where the long-term unemployed should still be eligible for further benefits (at least through June) despite the lapse: Arkansas, Connecticut, Kansas, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, North Carolina, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington.

80 Percent Of People Jobless Last Summer Still Out Of Work

Just one in five people who were out of work last summer have found jobs since then.

Of more than a thousand unemployed people surveyed by Rutgers University researchers last August, just 21 percent had landed a job by March, a followup survey reveals. Two-thirds remained "unemployed" according to the government's definition -- the rest gave up looking for work altogether, either going to school or retiring early.

"It's a pretty grim study," said Cliff Zukin, one of the authors of the report at the John J. Heldrich Center for Workforce Development at Rutgers.

Here's how this grim finding looks graphically:

Of the people who found work, only 13 percent found full-time jobs, and 61 percent said their new gig was just "something to get you by while you look for something better."

Seventy percent have been looking for work for longer than six months, the survey found -- up from 48 percent in the summer. (In March, the number of people out of work for that length of time increased by 414,000 month to 6.5 million, representing 44.1 percent of all unemployed.)

To cope, 70 percent dipped into retirement funds, 56 percent borrowed money from family or friends and 45 percent turned to credit cards. Forty-two percent skimped on medical care, 20 percent moved in with family or friends and 18 percent visited a soup kitchen.

"The cushion's completely gone," said Zukin. "I think we're looking at more cutting the core... It's a much deeper economic gash this time."

But while the employment situation has worsened, feelings have muted. In August, the intensity of people's distress was the salient thing. For instance, 79 percent of the unemployed described themselves as "stressed" -- that number dropped to 49 percent in March. There was a similar drop in people describing themselves as depressed, anxious, helpless, angry, hopeless, hopeful or motivated.

"My guess is that it's harder to sustain that emotion, which is based on upheaval, as it becomes normal to you," said Zukin (who stressed that he is not a psychologist). "So they're dealing with it better. Being unplugged for a long time makes you make your piece with it."

Long-term unemployment is even worse for people over 50, only 12 percent of whom found jobs since August. One of the survey respondents explained a common view of jobless folks over 50: age discrimination is to blame.

"Although there is nowhere on a CV/resume that you state your age, employers can tell how many years you have worked," the person wrote. "I have been interviewed for positions requiring experience by managers more than half my age, and they can barely contain their disdain -- despite the fact that my work experience is far greater than theirs."

Unemployment for people over 55 has surged by 331 percent over the past decade, according to the AARP. Age-discrimination complaints to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission office have been higher since the start of the current recession than in any previous two-year period.

Teens and young adults find a harsh job market

Many are pushed aside by older workers seeking employment after being laid off. Unemployment rates for youthful workers have jumped significantly in the last year.

By Seema Mehta

June 28, 2009

Amber Medina has been looking for a job for five months, ever since her father, a metal-worker, was laid off and her mom began struggling to support the family of seven on her $15-per-hour job.

But the 17-year-old has yet to find anything permanent, despite sending out resumes and visiting dozens of potential employers, including the clothing stores Old Navy and PacSun. "I'm looking for any job to help my parents," she said.

Medina said that when her father earned $28 per hour, the family lived comfortably, easily making purchases such as cameras and the latest fashions. He recently found work, but it pays less than half what his previous job did.

The change in the family's circumstances is evident daily, such as on trips to the grocery store. "We don't throw everything in the basket like we used to," she said.

Medina, who is graduating this week from Roosevelt High School, is not alone.

With unemployment rates hitting record highs for teens and young adults, these workers are desperately seeking jobs this summer with little success. This year, the mainstays of youth summer employment -- the mall, the movie theaters, diners and fast-food chains -- are increasingly being filled by older workers pushed down the economic ladder by the recession.

Amanda Mercado, 20, said she has applied for about 200 jobs since January, when her employer moved 60 miles away to San Clemente. But she is sympathetic to the plight of older job seekers.

"I would hire a person . . . who has kids over me too," Mercado said last week, as she took a resume-writing course at the El Sereno Library.

Myra Arias, 20, a clerk at a UPS store in Boyle Heights, said she sees adults with extensive job experience asking for applications at the store every day.

"They're older and they're coming into a UPS store to ask for a job," she said. "It's kind of shocking."

Arias said the sour economy has been driven home for her twice recently: When her 29-year-old sister was laid off from her teaching position and when Arias visited the sandwich shop where she had worked during high school and found a friend's mother, laid off from a managerial job, behind the counter.

"It's, like, really tough right now," the West Covina resident said.

Statistics back up these tales. In May, unemployment hit 11.2% for Californians of working age, but it was 27.8% for 16- to 19-year-olds, and 14.3% for 20- to 24-year-olds. The figures represented a nearly 50% jump in teen and young-adult unemployment since May 2008, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The situation has grown even more dire since the data were released, said economist Jack Kyser of the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp.

School districts, which issue work permits once teens secure jobs, say fewer students are requesting them. The Pasadena Unified School District issued 427 permits during the school year that just ended, compared with 907 the previous year, said Binti Harvey, a spokeswomen for the district.

Teens and young adults are hampered by several factors, from competition with older workers to an overall lack of jobs, Kyser said.

"A lot of the sectors where teens usually look for summer employment have dried up and blown away," he said, pointing to retail positions in particular. "You go into any mall, you don't see very many help-wanted signs. You're more likely to see blank storefronts."

Mike Rausch, a manager at a Trader Joe's market in Long Beach, said that despite a stream of job-seekers filling out applications, the store has not hired anyone in three months because of a dip in sales. "We've ordered so many more applications because our applications are running out very quickly," he said. But "we haven't hired anyone for a while just because business has been down."

One temporary bright spot involves the jobs for young people produced by the federal government's economic stimulus package. California received nearly $187 million, which is being used to create positions for teens and young adults around the state.

In Los Angeles, Para Los Niños is placing 305 youths this summer at jobs funded by federal money, at such venues as the East Los Angeles courthouse and the California Science Center.

The young people, including Medina, will be paid $8 per hour and the jobs will run for 140 hours. But first they had to complete a weeklong job-skills training course at the nonprofit's center on skid row.

At one point in the recent training session, instructor Cathleen Cotter asked the teens what type of work they were seeking.

"A job," Edgar Varela, 17, replied wearily. "Any job that pays."

The Boyle Heights youth has been looking for work for about a year, from stocking inventory at warehouses to selling shirts at the Gap. "There's a lot of competition out there even just to get a minimum wage job," he said.

Edgar said he hopes to use the income from the summer placement to help pay for his braces, to buy books for his upcoming pharmacy-technician training program and to defray his younger sister's high school costs. "I don't want her to struggle," he said.

For teens and young adults who are still searching for jobs, Kyser advised turning to unpaid internships if they can't find paying positions. The experience, he said, would help them land future employment.

Linda Broughton, a volunteer instructor for the L.A. Youth At Work program, also urged them to seek help from friends and family, who may overlook their lack of experience if they know the character of the applicants. The 50-year-old Mar Vista resident, who has worked in various fields since 1971, should know -- she was laid off in March.

"It's really hard," Broughton said after teaching the class on resume writing at El Sereno Library. "But they've got to stay persistent."

Rosemary Leyva, a full-time student studying medical insurance billing at the East Los Angeles Regional Occupational Center, was among Broughton's students. She had planned to take summer courses, but the college canceled them because of budget cuts. Since then, she has applied for sales clerk positions at shops such as Forever 21 and the 99 Cent store.

"I'm looking for anything right now, something to get me by," the 20-year-old said. "I go online and do job applications, but no one ever calls me back."