jobs

EPI: 7 million jobs needed just to get back to before economic crisis levels

The Economic Policy Institute just released a detailed report on jobs.

When you look at these numbers, one realizes until all policy is addressed to stop the United States from hemorrhaging jobs, there will be no real economic recovery.

While the labor market has shed 5.1 million jobs since the start of the recession, it is important to keep in mind that in those 15 months, the population has continued to grow. Just to keep up with population growth, the economy must add approximately 127,000 jobs every month, which means 1.9 million jobs, should have been added over this period. In other words, the economy is now 7 million jobs below what is needed to maintain pre-recession employment levels.

That's a lot of jobs folks.

EPI:  job per population

What Losing a Job Does to People

It's fairly sad that such an article even needs to be written. But in this day and age of people as disposable commodities, something to trade like baseball cards, the first to zero in on to reduce costs, I guess the obvious needs to be said.

There’s the executive assistant who says she’s read 20 novels in the past month. The administrator who admits she sometimes stays in her pajamas until 3 p.m. And the business analyst who found himself in a months-long video game stupor, rarely leaving the couch.

The recently unemployed are discovering that layoffs mean more than lost income: they strip away routines and social structures, leaving many people feeling trapped at home and in a rut.

Career counselors call it hitting the wall. The people who have reached that point say it can feel more like a black hole.

Age Discrimination, Brazen, Rampant and Impossible to Fight

Check out this Age Discrimination story:

When Ben Sims, 57, showed up earlier this year for a job interview at a company in Richardson, Tex., he noticed the hiring manager — several decades his junior — falter upon spotting him in the lobby.

“Her face actually dropped,” said Mr. Sims, who was dressed in a business suit befitting his 25-year career in human resources at I.B.M.

Later, in her office, after several perfunctory questions, the woman told Mr. Sims she did not believe the job would be “suitable” for him. And barely 10 minutes later, she stood to signal that the interview was over.

How many know this story? Literally, on the phone, assumptions are made about my age and I hear I should talk to "so and so company" for the workers are "all my age".

DOL Jobless claims indicate the U.S. is bleeding jobs

The DOL has released Unemployment weekly claims.

New claims jumped to 667,000. That's just unreal and the increase from last week is 36,000

The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending Feb. 14 was 5,112,000, an increase of 114,000 from the preceding week's revised level of 4,998,000. The 4-week moving average was 4,932,250, an increase of 89,250 from the preceding week's revised average of 4,843,000.

We're bleeding jobs!

We are not hitting the worst rates since 1982 and if anyone recalls this was the time period when interest rates were put on 20% range to stop stagflation, which of course caused an immediate deep recession in the readjustment period.

Senate fails to pass auto deal

Well, in case you've missed it tonight, the Senate's attempt at a deal collapsed. At the heart of demise of the bill were Republicans refusal to pass the legislation handed to the chamber. Lead by Tennessee Senator, Bob Corker, the GOP demanded that the UAW take further wage cuts earlier than proposed. Corker and others wanted union wages to meet parity to those found by transplants like Toyota or Honda in southern states.

GM to Hire 500 in India

Who says hypocrisy isn't in full swing on the hill?

Indian Newpapers are reporting GM to hire 500 new workers for their new India plant and look at the glow of GM hiring while in the United States GM goes begging to not declare immediate bankruptcy:

It may be laying off factory workers in its troubled home market US, but General Motors will be hiring new workers in India at its new plant at Talegaon in Maharashtra as the company expands .

"Recruitment is on at full swing in India and we plan to hire as many as 500 new workers for our Talegaon plant in the coming months," GM India president and MD Karl Slym told TOI.

GM India is a GM subsidiary and GM has already poured $8.1 Billion into India and China.

Unemployment Climbs Near 1982 Levels

Unemployment is increasing so fast, so dramatic, well, all I can say is Merry Christmas. Even in normal times Corporations like to give pink slips as stocking stuffers, just in time for the Holidays. This year they have a jump on that fine act and being fired is now the gift that keeps on giving, way before the actual holiday pink slip season.
BLS Unemployment rate graph, updated

U.S. Economy: Jobless Claims Approach Highest Level Since 1982 :

The number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits approached a 26-year high, and a gauge of the economy's future performance dropped, sending yields on benchmark Treasuries to record lows.

Women Techies Getting the Diss & Silicon Valley Uses the Crisis as an Excuse

Just what women techies need to hear when massive layoffs are headed to Silicon valley. Oh yeah, get this, the layoffs aren't really layoffs but more of an excuse to offshore outsource even more jobs, age discriminate and our usual high tech blame game, insulting people working their ass off as dead wood to justify their staff thrashing....(TechCrunch loves to blame the victim and promote global labor arbitrage).

Back to women techies....they are not having families, working their ass off, much more than their male counterparts and yet...all of that effort just isn't paying off:

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