Posts Tagged Unemployment

Cagle Post – Political Cartoons & Commentary – » Bureau of Labor Statistics Job Deception Deepens

Posted by Michael B. Calyn in Employment, Opinion, Perspective on January 10, 2013


JOE GUZZARDI

Bureau of Labor Statistics Job Deception Deepens

 

Last month, the Bureau of Labor Statistics continued its monthly deceit and deception exercise. The December unemployment rate, according to the BLS, is 7.8 percent. In the same report, BLS announced that 155,000 new jobs have been created.

Nate Beeler / Columbus Dispatch

Immediately after the BLS released its statistics, major media outlets spun the falsely calculated data into an optimistic analysis which concluded that the economy is rebounding strongly, a vindication of President Obama’s policies. One headline read that the latest BLS figures, broadly referred to as the U-3 unemployment rate, prove Obama’s “naysayers” have been wrong all along. However keep in mind that under the U-3 definition some counted as employed could work as little as an hour a week.

If the naysayers include African-Americans, women and young adults, then their skepticism is justified. Unemployment for women rose to 7.3 percent in December from 7.0 percent while the rate for African-Americans increased sharply to 14.0 percent from 13.2 percent in November.

Even though December normally experiences a job creation spike in temporary positions because of seasonal retail shopping patterns, black employment fell in December from nearly 16 million to 15.8 million.

As for young Americans age 18-29, their plight is equally grim. Generation Opportunity, a national, non-partisan organization which advocates for what it calls millennials, announced that the overall non-seasonally adjusted December youth unemployment rate is 11.5 percent including Hispanics,12.2 percent and women, 10.4 percent.

A more comprehensive unemployment rate is the U-6 which counts all unemployed individuals 16 years and older seeking full-time employment (the aforementioned U-3 rate), marginally attached workers and those working part-time despite wanting full employment. Marginally attached workers include the discouraged who have given up the employment search. The December U-6 unemployment rate is 14.4; the 2012 average nearly 14.8 percent.

Analysts rarely address the question of which types of jobs have been created and, by extension, what wage they pay. The so called FIRE economy—finance, insurance and real estate—continued its twenty-year soft trend. Many of those jobs have commission based salaries. Manufacturing, once the backbone of the American middle class, continued its two decade decline.

On the other hand, low paying leisure and hospitality jobs remain strong. In the hospitality sector, the average wage is $13.41 per hour with 26 hours representing an average work week. Few leisure positions offer health care, paid vacation or pension programs.

Even the liberal Economic Policy Institute unequivocally stated that the job market is stuck in a depressingly deep hole—4 million jobs away from returning to pre-recession employment levels. Add the jobs that should be created in a normal economy and the United States is short nine million jobs. Assuming December’s growth rate, the EPI estimates that the labor market won’t catch up until the end of 2021.

As if all this discouraging news isn’t bad enough for beleaguered American workers, legal and illegal immigrants have taken two-thirds of the net employment increase since 2009 when President Obama took office. A Center for Immigration Studies found that 1.94 million more immigrants were working in the third quarter of 2012 than at the start of 2009 when the president was inaugurated compared to a 938,000 increase for natives during the same time period.

Despite overwhelming, irrefutable evidence that 20 million Americans are either unemployed or underemployed and equally compelling proof that authorizing more foreign-born workers adds to U.S. worker displacement, immigration remains on autopilot. An average 1 million new legal immigrants annually with work authorizations compete with Americans, often successfully, for scarce jobs.

The federal government’s craven immigration policy that hurts suffering, unemployed Americans is inexplicably set to continue in perpetuity.

 Cagle Post – Political Cartoons & Commentary – » Bureau of Labor Statistics Job Deception Deepens.

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Jack Welch says tweet on unemployment numbers should have included question mark

Posted by Michael B. Calyn in Uncategorized on October 7, 2012


 

Jack Welch: I Should Have Added a Question Mark to Tweet About Friday’s Jobs Numbers

By Daniel Politi | 

Posted Saturday, Oct. 6, 2012, at 12:32 PM ET

 

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Jack Welch says the latest job numbers seem “implausible”

Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images

 

Former GE CEO Jack Welch sort of wishes he could go back in time to edit his now-infamous tweet that strongly suggested President Obama’s campaign managed to somehow manipulate the job numbers released Friday that showed a decrease in the unemployment rate to 7.8 percent. That’s not to say he disagrees with what he wrote. Welch just thinks he should have made it clear he wanted to imply something, not state it outright, which obviously makes sense considering pretty much everyone agrees it’s a ridiculous assertion, as the Associated Press points out.

When CNN’s Anderson Cooper questioned him on what evidence he had to write what he did, Welch acknowledged that “A question mark would have been better,” before quickly adding that, “I stand by that these numbers have to be examined.” (Transcript available here.)

Welch, who frequently criticizes Obama’s administration, wrote early Friday on Twitter: “Unbelievable jobs numbers..these Chicago guys will do anything..can’t debate so change numbers.”

When CNN’s Ali Velshi pushed Welch on the inaccuracy of the tweet, Welch fired back: “I should have had a question mark, Ali, at the back of it, let’s face it, OK?”

Velshi started out saying that Welch is “the best CEO in America” before harshly criticizing him: “To say something like this is like Donald Trump saying that president Obama is not an American citizen without any proof.”

Throughout the CNN interview Welch emphasized that what he was questioning was how “implausible” the numbers seemed considering they amounted to the “highest numbers of household employment since June of 1983, the biggest year of the Reagan recovery.” But he also was careful to emphasize that he was “not accusing anybody of anything.”

The New York Times’ Joe Nocera writes that while it’s “ludicrous” to suggest that “a handful of career bureaucrats” would manipulate unemployment data, it is true that there’s “something a little strange about the way the country derives its employment statistics.” But the lesson in this questioning of the jobs data needs to be that it’s a bit “absurd” to think that a presidential race could be decided on the unemployment rate. It’s not just because the short-term numbers aren’t really reliable, but also because no president has such a strong grip on the economy.

“There is rough justice in the way things are playing out,” writes Nocera. “Having spent the last year wrongly blaming the president for high unemployment, Republicans can only stand by helplessly as the unemployment rate goes down at the worst possible moment for them.”

 Jack Welch says tweet on unemployment numbers should have included question mark.

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Jobless Rate Falls to 7.8%, Lowest Since January 2009 – NYTimes.com

Posted by Michael B. Calyn in Economy, Job Search, Jobs on October 5, 2012


 

Jobless Rate Falls to 7.8%, Lowest Since January 2009

By SHAILA DEWAN

Published: October 5, 2012 

 

John Moore/Getty Images

Job applicants met with potential employers at 7 World Trade Center in New York last month.

 

The nation’s unemployment rate dropped below 8 percent in September to its lowest rate since the month President Obama took office, the Labor Department said Friday.

While employers added only a modest 114,000 jobs last month, the jobless rate declined to 7.8 percent from 8.1 percent, even though more people entered the labor force.

Adding to the positive news, job gains were revised upward by 40,000 for July (to 181,000) and by 46,000 for August (to 142,000), which had been considered a disappointing month, casting a slightly rosier hue on the summer slowdown.

The private sector, which has been adding jobs since March 2010, grew by 104,000 workers in September. Governments, where cuts have been a drag on the recovery, added 10,000 jobs.

Manufacturing, one of the bright spots that Mr. Obama has showcased throughout the re-election campaign, fell 16,000 jobs after losing  a revised 22,000  in August, and construction jobs grew by 5,000. The number of temporary jobs, usually considered a harbinger of future growth, fell 2,000.

Coming a month before the presidential election, the jobs report offered ammunition for both sides as the candidates vie to convince voters that each is better equipped to steer the economy.

Mr. Obama can point to the 24th straight month of overall job growth after a severe financial crisis and a drop below the stubborn 8 percent jobless rate that has dogged his presidency. Republicans can — and did on Friday — continue to criticize the slow pace of improvement.

Mitt Romney, the Republican presidential challenger, took particular issue with any positive interpretation of the report.

“This is not what a real recovery looks like,” he said in a statement. “We created fewer jobs in September than in August, and fewer jobs in August than in July, and we’ve lost over 600,000 manufacturing jobs since President Obama took office.”

Representative Kevin Brady, a Republican from Texas and vice chairman of the joint economic committee, said the drop in the unemployment rate “was driven primarily by an increase of 582,000 in the number of workers employed involuntarily in part-time jobs. These workers need and want full-time jobs.”

“If not for all the people who have simply dropped out of the labor force,” Mr. Romney said in his statement, “the real unemployment rate would be closer to 11 percent.”

Representative Eric Cantor of Virginia, the majority leader, conceded that numbers were an improvement but added, “it simply isn’t good enough.” A jobless rate of 7.8 percent “should not be cause for celebration.”

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Democrat from Nevada, countered that “with unemployment dropping below 8 percent to the lowest level in four years, our economy is on the right track.”

Consumers and businesses, too, seem to have divergent views of the economic situation.Consumers have shown increasing confidence as stocks rise and home prices stabilize.

Business leaders have been hanging back, though, more focused on global economic slowing and domestic concerns. They say they are uncertain what the election will mean for the business climate and are waiting in part for a resolution of the so-called fiscal cliff, a host of tax increases and budget cuts that will be triggered at the end of the year if Congress fails to act.

Harry Kazazian, the chief executive officer of Exxel Outdoors, a maker of camping equipment in Alabama, said the election, the fiscal cliff and rapidly shifting regulations had put him in a cautious mood.

With sales on the rise, Exxel has restarted a capital investment plan that it suspended three years ago, but is doing so slowly. “We’re moving forward, but we’re doing it in steps rather than being much more aggressive and putting ourselves out there,” Mr. Kazazian said. “I wouldn’t be surprised if things start turning the other way, meaning down.”

But at a Walmart in Atlanta, shoppers were loosening the reins a bit, buying what they described as small indulgences like scented candle oil and seasonal beer.

Linda Avery, 50, a food service manager, said her income had not changed but her daughter had moved out of the house, reducing her food and utility expenses.

Michael Peacock, 43, said that although his house was in foreclosure, his chosen field, online marketing, was improving to the point where he could even turn down some jobs that were outside his specialty.

“I can see people shopping,” Ms. Avery said, surveying the store. “You just feel like things are getting a little better.”

The polling firm Gallup pinpointed September’s rise in consumer confidence to the first day of the Democratic National Convention, and said it was almost entirely because of increased optimism among Democrats, while confidence among Republicans held steady at low levels. But Gallup could not say whether politics or improving economic conditions drove the change.

The discrepancy between consumers’ mood and the outlook of companies can be easily explained, economists said. “Businesses are much more forward looking,” said Ellen Zentner, the senior United States economist for Nomura Securities International.

Concerns over the fiscal cliff had begun showing up in business surveys in April, she said. “It’s been weighing on their investment and hiring decisions for quite some time.”

In a survey of 400 chief financial officers conducted this summer, Grant Thornton, a management consulting firm, found that many had shifted from neutrality to pessimism, with 45 percent of respondents saying they expected their work force to hold steady and 18 percent saying they expected it to shrink over the next six months. A large majority said they expected both health care costs and salaries to increase.

Stephen Chipman, the chief executive of Grant Thornton, said there appeared to be genuine growth in the technology, high-end manufacturing and energy sectors, while growth in health care was largely a result of consolidation and increased efficiency, and financial service hiring was largely driven by the need to comply with more regulations.

Before Mr. Obama took office, he pledged that his stimulus plan would keep unemployment from rising above 8 percent, based on projections that greatly underestimated the depth of the recession. Instead, unemployment has exceeded 8 percent since February 2009, peaking at 10 percent in October of that year.

There are now almost the same number of jobs as there were when Mr. Obama took office, but there are 426,000 more than when the economy stopped hemorrhaging jobs in February 2010. A mere 62,000 increase in the number of jobs would allow Mr. Obama to claim a net increase in jobs over his tenure.

This year, the economy has added an average of 146,000 jobs a month. Economists say that job growth of 100,000 to 175,000 a month is essentially neutral in terms of its effect on the election, while anything higher would favor the incumbent.

The government’s first estimate of September’s payrolls, while eagerly awaited, is less than precise and will be revised in coming months as more data is collected and verified. In an annual recalibration last month, the Bureau of Labor Statistics estimated that there were actually 400,000 more jobs added in the 12 months that ended in March than was previously thought. That benchmark will not be incorporated into the monthly jobs figures until early next year.

“The economy seems since the recovery began to have three gears,” said Patrick O’Keefe, a labor economist and director of economic research at J. H. Cohn, an accounting firm, “slow, idle and reverse. It’s stuck in slow. We don’t have a gear faster than slow.”

 Jobless Rate Falls to 7.8%, Lowest Since January 2009 – NYTimes.com.

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Ivan Bial: Trickle down didn’t work before. Why now, Willard? – South Florida Sun-Sentinel.com

Posted by Michael B. Calyn in GOP, Mitt Romney on September 16, 2012


 

Ivan Bial: Trickle down didn’t work before. Why now, Willard?

 

Ivan Bial

September 5, 2012

When President Reagan took office the U.S. was a creditor nation, when he left office we were a debtor nation. 

When President G. W. Bush took office we had a surplus, and a robust economy, when he left office the debit bulged into the trillions, unemployment skyrocketed. Think about this he tricked us into the war in Iraq when we should have gone into Afghanistan, both wars were not paid for, the Medicare prescription drug plan also unpaid for, leave no child behind, unpaid for and several other debit busting unpaid for programs.

What do President Reagan, President G. W. Bush and Gov. Romney have in common? The three believe in “Trickle Down” Economics and no restrictions on financial institutions. 

Willard while you want to reward your wealthy friends and PAC contributors with increased tax breaks; you increase the tax burden on seniors, the middle class and cripple the poor. 

Willard, while a one term governor, your drove unemployment up, making Massachusetts the 47 state in unemployment claims. You created the model for the Affordable Healthcare Act, supported woman’s rights, increased spending for schools, which now you run away from, and you claim you balanced the budget when you had no choice since it’s a Massachusetts constitutional requirement. Fact is your poll numbers were so poor you did ran away from a second term rather than face an embarrassing defeat. 

Willard we tried “Trickle Down” and no restrictions on financial institutions.  IT DOES NOT WORK.

 Ivan Bial: Trickle down didn’t work before. Why now, Willard? – South Florida Sun-Sentinel.com.

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Recession hit older tech workers harder, labor data shows – Computerworld

Posted by Michael B. Calyn in Employment on August 23, 2012


 

Recession hit older tech workers harder, labor data shows

Older women in computer, math jobs face unemployment rates near 10%

By Patrick Thibodeau and Sharon Machlis

.

Computerworld - Unemployment rates for older IT workers increased during the recession faster than they did for younger employees, according to new U.S. government labor data obtained by Computerworld. But that’s something that Maribeth McIntyre, an IT professional with some 30 years of experience, already suspected.

McIntyre was laid off from her job of seven years in early 2007 at age 55. Until that layoff, finding a job had “always been as easy it can be,” so she hit the then still-growing pre-recession IT job market to look for a new job in her area of expertise: as a business system analyst and project manager specializing in HR and payroll applications.

In 2007, McIntyre said she had two or three phone interviews a week and many in-person interviews that were often enthusiastic and seemingly successful. But it was eight months before she landed a consulting job. “I was beginning to suspect it was an age problem,” she said.

What is certain is that unemployment for people 55 years and older has become a problem, especially during the past two years. In the U.S. government’s “computer and mathematical occupations” category, the overall unemployment rate jumped from 6% to 8.4% from 2009 to 2010, according to data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. For women 55 and older, the unemployment rate hit 9.4%. For men in that age group, it was 8%.

Meanwhile, unemployment declined for workers in that category who were between 25 and 54, dropping from 5.1% in 2009 to 4.5% in 2010 (see chart below).

The recession ended McIntyre’s consulting job, so she found contract work for a few months in 2009 and last year landed a six-month contract gig that recently ended.

McIntyre, who keeps an online journal on the Daily Kos Web site (under the name Embee), had noticed other older workers talking about the problem of finding work. Seeing a trend, she started an online forum called the “50+ and Unemployed (Underemployed) Support Group” this month and got lots of positive feedback about the endeavor.

McIntyre said the forum is for sharing ideas and venting, because “after a while, your friends don’t want to hear it anymore,” she said with a laugh.

Although the labor data confirmed what McIntyre believed to be the case about the labor market, it didn’t stop her from calling the unemployment numbers for older workers “scary.”

 

U.S. unemployment rates
2009-2010

 

25-54 yrs.

55+ yrs.

All 16+

 

 

2009

2010

2009

2010

2009

2010

Total population

8.2

8.5

6.5

7.0

8.6

8.9

  All professional

4.2

4.1

4.3

4.6

4.4

4.5

    All computer & math

5.1

4.5

6.0

8.4

5.2

5.2

    Architecture & engineering

6.2

5.2

9.9

9.4

6.9

6.2

    Life, physical, social science

4.3

4.2

4.0

5.5

4.5

4.6

    Community & social service

3.8

4.7

4.3

2.9

4.3

4.6

    Legal

3.6

2.7

2.8

2.3

3.4

2.7

    Education, training, library

3.8

4.1

3.7

3.6

4.1

4.2

    Health

2.3

2.3

2.1

2.7

2.3

2.5

    Arts, entertainment, sports, media

8.0

8.1

7.4

8.4

8.4

8.9

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Male all

9.1

9.2

7.0

7.7

9.7

9.8

  Male professional

4.5

4.3

4.6

5.1

4.8

4.9

    Male computer & math

5.1

4.3

4.9

8.0

5.1

5.1

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Female all

7.0

7.6

6.0

6.2

7.4

7.9

  Female professional

4.0

4.0

4.1

4.1

4.2

4.2

    Female computer & math

5.2

5.1

8.9

9.4

5.7

5.7

Rates are percentage of total workers in each category. Data comes from the federal Current Population Survey of about 50,000 U.S. households conducted monthly. Margin of error for these demographic slices was unavailable. Workers are counted in a profession’s unemployment pool only if their previous job was in that field and if they’ve been in the workforce within the past few years, thus factoring out both new graduates and those who have been out of the workforce for some time.

 

Nanci Schimizzi, the president of Women in Technology, a mentoring and advocacy group, said she knows a number of women who are 50 or older and are looking for work.

“They remain unemployed for long periods of time — years — to the point where many of them have more or less given up” and gone into alternate careers, said Schimizzi, who works in technology operations at an organization she asked not be named.

Four years ago, before the economic downturn, unemployment for computer and math professionals was 3.5% for men 55 and over and 4.2% for women the same age. The overall rate for younger professionals — between the ages of 25 and 54 — was just 1.7%.

Older workers, particularly when a company is changing its systems, can “find themselves highly paid, without the needed skills, and then they are the easiest targets,” said Schimizzi.

Schimizzi said she isn’t expecting the unemployment rate for older workers to decline, even when hiring picks up. If employers do hire older workers, it is likely to be for short-term contracts, she said. “I think full-time positions are going to be staffed from the younger workforce.”

Al Williams, vice president of Share, an independent IBM user group and a director of IT at Pennsylvania State University in University Park, Pa., said people who are over 50 may face problems if they resist change. But the fact that they’re likely to have higher salaries than their younger colleagues may put them at risk, too.

“I think the biggest risk in IT is we tend to define ourselves with the technology we like, rather than aligning ourselves with the strategies the business needs,” said Williams.

Overall, the jobless rate for workers in computer and math fields was 5.2% last year, unchanged from 2009. Average unemployment for all professional occupations was 4.5%, with the lowest levels in the health and legal occupations, according to the government data. Architects and engineers had a higher unemployment rate, and those in the arts, entertainment, sports and media fared the worst.

IT job employment has been picking up, and the jobs that are most in demand favor young as well as older workers, according to Todd Thibodeaux, president and CEO of the Computing Technology Industry Association (CompTIA), which runs a large IT skills certification program.

Thibodeaux says there is high demand for IT workers, particularly for those who can build mobile applications, work on a combination of security andcloud computing platforms, and handle cloud integration generally. People familiar with various cloud platforms, such as those run by Google, Amazon and Microsoft, as well as healthcare specialists and electronic medical records integrators, are also in demand.

While the mobile realm favors the young, “cloud and healthcare may be favoring older and more seasoned workers,” said Thibodeaux.

The age issue is likely to gain importance because of the sheer size of the baby boom generation — people born between 1946 and 1964, who make up more than 25% of the U.S. population and a substantial segment of the IT workforce. The federal government reports that people between 45 and 63 years of age accounted for 60% of its IT workforce in 2008, according to a federal study last year.

Farrokh Hormozi, a professor of economics and public administration at Pace University in New York, said the unemployment rates for older workers are what he would have expected.

“Older people have less opportunity to get back to the job market than younger people,” said Hormozi, who tracks IT employment in the New York region as co-investigator of the Pace SkillProof IT Index.

The only time when older people could go into the job market and readily find work was during the boom years of the mid-1990s leading up to 2000, he said. “If you discount those years, the labor market has not been acting unexpectedly,” said Hormozi.

“I hate to say it is human nature,” said Hormozi, but “you always want to give an opportunity to younger people.”

 Recession hit older tech workers harder, labor data shows – Computerworld.

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Farron Cousins | House Republicans Sacrifice Human Health For Alleged Job Creation

Posted by Michael B. Calyn in GOP, Legislation on August 19, 2012


 

House Republicans Sacrifice Human Health For Alleged Job Creation 

 

 

With July 2012 officially behind us, the U.S. jobs report for the month has economists and politicians concerned about the employment situation in America. And even though the economy added 163,000 jobs (economists had predicted only 100,000 jobs to be added for July,) the unemployment rate and the underemployment rate both crept slightly upwards. And with national elections coming up in three months, poor jobs numbers could be bad for our health.

If history is any indicator, Conservative politicians and think tanks will use last month’s poor jobs report in an attempt to provide massive giveaways to their friends in the dirty energy industry. They attempted the same thing after below-average job growth in May of this year, claiming that approval of the Keystone XL pipeline would be the job boon that Americans desperately need.

But Republicans in Washington didn’t wait for a bad jobs report before they started planning their dirty energy bonanza, but its likely they will use it as a catalyst to gain more support for their disastrous plans.

In mid June of this year, Republicans on the “House Energy Action Team” (HEAT) proposed a set of bills that would destroy many of the safeguards that are currently in place to protect our environment and our personal health in order to make things “easier” for businesses to create jobs without worrying about those pesky safety standards. What the package of legislation is really about is repaying HEAT members’ financiers from the dirty energy industry who stand to save a ton of cash by destroying regulations.

The legislation package would remove many current existing safeguards for environmental and public health until the unemployment rate drops below 6%, a rate that hasn’t been seen since July 2008, when it was 5.8%. Since that month four years ago, the rate has stayed consistently above 6%, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.


When I wrote about the legislative package back in June, I focused mainly on the ties to industry of the bills’ sponsors. Recently, the Coalition for Sensible Safeguards put together an analysis of the safeguards and regulations that the bills would removed if passed:

The House of Representatives will soon consider a radical bill proposed by Republican members: ‘‘Red Tape Reduction and Small Business Job Creation Act’’ (H.R. 4078). This bill is made up of provisions H.R.4078, H.R. 4607, H.R. 3862, H.R. 373, H.R. 4377, H.R. 2308, and H.R. 1840 which would, in an unprecedented move halt all regulatory action on national safeguards that protect the health and safety of Americans and bolster the nation’s economy.

Combined, these provisions would halt or delay virtually ALL regulations and do absolutely nothing to stimulate the economy or new job opportunities. They would shut down crucial safeguards that give Americans confidence in the products at the grocery store, the safety of their workplaces, the cleanliness of the water system, the soundness of our financial system, and the safety of vital infrastructure…

Public Health and Clean Air – These bills would continue to prevent the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency from implementing standards defining power plants, industrial boilers, process heaters and cement plants compliance with the Clean Air Act. Those structures are the largest emitters of mercury and toxic air pollutants. Compliance would curb their harmful impact on the respiratory health of millions of Americans.

Food Safety – Each year, 1.2 million people get sick, 7,125 are hospitalized, and 134 die from foodborne illnesses contracted from contaminated produce. Illnesses and food recalls also hurt the U.S.agriculture and food industries. The Food Safety Modernization Act, passed with support from both industry and consumer groups, calls for new regulations on produce handling on large farms and an inspection system for foreign farms to be in place by 2013. Its implementation depends on rulemaking that would be blocked by the proposed bills.

Workplace Safety – Beryllium, a toxic substance (lung cancer and other fatal and chronic diseases) exposed to workers in the electronics, nuclear, and metalwork industries. Current1950s-based standards allow workers to continue to be exposed to levels higher than ruled safe for nuclear power plant workers. The three proposed bills would stop the Occupational Safety and Health Administration from updating exposure standards to protect all workers.

Energy and Environment – The proposed bills would block the U.S. Department of Energy from implementing the Energy Security and Independence Act, delaying for five years updates of energy efficiency standards for a wide range of products. The estimated lost savings for the U.S. economy would be $48 to $105 billion. The bills also would halt the Federal Trade Commission’s rulemaking for energy efficiency labeling designed to protect consumers from misleading and deceptive claims about product energy savings.

In addition to these measures, some of the bills in the package would reduce benefits for our veterans, and loosen the already lenient rules regarding the approval of medical devices in America.

If passed, these laws would sacrifice the lives and well being of American citizens based solely on the hope that companies will create more jobs. To the House Republicans who proposed this legislation, their faith in corporations to “do the right thing” is greater than their belief that every life is sacred and worth protecting.

But the most important thing to remember about their proposals is that they won’t work. As I have pointed out over the years, regulations are not destroying jobs, nor are they hindering job creation. In fact, tightening safeguards would actually lead to greater job creation than destroying regulations.

Talking points aside, House Republicans are also overlooking the fact that destroying safeguards will also have a devastating effect on the fragile U.S. economy. Studies tell us that for every dollar spent on safeguards and regulations, an economic benefit of between four and eight dollars ripples throughout the economy. To put it simply, every dollar spent on regulations has a minimum return of 400% for the U.S. economy. Any investor could see that this would be a wise decision.

In addition to the lost investments, we have to look at the jobs that would be lost by doing away with regulations. Delaying implementation, or doing away with completely, the Clean Air Act standards could cost our economy an estimated 1.5 million jobs.

And those numbers are just the ones on the surface. We would also have to factor in the economic impact of health and environmental degradation that would be placed on the economy if these safeguards were removed. It is a fact that U.S. taxpayers already pay for healthcare costs related to air pollution, estimated to be about $50 billion a year. Environmental costs shifted to taxpayers also total in the billions a year, as seen with the Gulf of Mexico oil spill and the Exxon Valdez spill (every disaster has costs that are shifted to taxpayers, those are just two of the largest examples.)

And again, all of these costs and dangers that will be imposed on the American public are only in the HOPE that corporate America will create more jobs. After analyzing all of the available information about regulations and job creation, its clear that repealing these safeguards will do little, if anything at all, to spur job growth in America. On the other hand, tightening these safeguards and fully implementing ones that have been delayed would provide an enormous benefit to both our health and our economy. But the dirty energy industry only thinks about their profits, not what happens in the world around them.

Farron Cousins | House Republicans Sacrifice Human Health For Alleged Job Creation.

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House Republicans’ New “Job Creation” Bill Creates No Jobs, Increases Workplace Abuses | Alternet

Posted by Michael B. Calyn in GOP, Jobs, Legislation on August 18, 2012


 

House Republicans’ New “Job Creation” Bill Creates No Jobs, Increases Workplace Abuses

Only the House Republicans could construct a jobs measure that divides the employed and unemployed, without creating a single job.

 

 

Anyone wondering why public disdain for Congress is sky high need look no further than the latest stunt by House Republicans:  In response to Americans’ top priority—more good jobs—the House passed a radical anti-regulation bill on Thursday that not only cynically pits people who have jobs against those desperate to find them, but also threatens public health and workplace safety—without creating a single good job. 

The centerpiece of the House effort is a provision stating that no agency may take “any significant regulatory action” until the monthly unemployment rate is “equal to or less than 6.0 percent.” Laughably touted as a “job creation” measure, H.R. 4078’s true aim is to bring federal regulation to a grinding halt and eviscerate public safeguards across the entire range of federal agencies in one fell swoop.

With few exceptions, the House proposal would mean that federal agencies may not adopt any new rules—or even write or seek public comment on rules—until the unemployment rate drops down to levels not seen since 2008.  It may be 2017 before we get back to that point, according to the Congressional Budget Office and Office of Management and Budget.

Meanwhile, urgently needed reforms would be cast into indefinite limbo.  Occupational safety measures would be delayed at a time when there are three million annual injuries and illnesses that workers suffer on the job – injuries that could land workers in the unemployment line themselves.  The 2.5 million home care workers currently excluded from basic minimum wage and overtime lawsthat most of us take for granted would have to wait many more years for these protections—never mind that increased pay in their pocket could help boost demand and hiring.

For the architects of this effort, it seems the solution to the unemployment crisis is to put people with jobs in danger and to leave them vulnerable to workplace abuses such as wage theft.  While employers get off scot-free, unsafe and unfair workplaces are the sacrifice that one group of workers should be willing to make for those searching for work, even if there’s no evidence that this unscrupulous trade-off would solve the plight of the unemployed. 

The cynicism of House leaders in holding good jobs hostage to an ongoing unemployment crisis that they are doing nothing to address is simply breathtaking. 

Let’s keep in mind that the biggest hindrance to hiring is not over-regulation but lack of demand, according to numerous surveys conducted by the American Sustainable Business Council, the Main Street Alliance, the Small Business Majority, the McClatchy/Tribune News Service, and even the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.   Also keep in mind that the current White House has issued fewer final regulations than any administration going back twenty years.  And consider this irony:  The American Chemistry Council recently requested new regulations from the FDA in order to bolster consumer confidence in the safety of their plastic products.

There are more productive ways for Congress to spend its time. Passing the Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2012, introduced in the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives last week, would raise the spending power of millions of struggling workers and their families and increase consumer demand. Addressing the infrastructure problems that have left millions of Americans sitting in the dark this summer by improving the power grid and developing alternative energy sources would also put unemployed workers back on the job.

Allowing the quality of our workplaces to deteriorate for years at a time is no way to build a solid economic recovery with good jobs as its foundation.  Leaders in Congress owe it to the American people—those with jobs, and those who want to work—to stop spinning their wheels and wasting time on partisan stunts and cynical legislation like H.R. 4078 and its ilk.  With nearly four months remaining until the next election, congressional leaders need to get down to business and do the serious job of putting America back to work.

 House Republicans’ New “Job Creation” Bill Creates No Jobs, Increases Workplace Abuses | Alternet.

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Unemployment Insurance Not On Congressional Radar

Posted by Michael B. Calyn in Employment, Government on August 7, 2012


 

Unemployment Insurance Not On Congressional Radar

Posted: 07/18/2012 12:24 pm Updated: 07/19/2012 1:01 pm

 

Unemployment

Job seekers have their resumes reviewed at a job fair expo in Anaheim, Calif.

 

WASHINGTON — President Obama took a question on the campaign trail Monday from a little girl who asked if her father, an unemployed construction worker, would find a job before his unemployment insurance runs out.

The president responded that he hoped the girl’s father would find work, but that if he doesn’t, he hoped the unemployment benefits would still be there.

“Now, we tried to extend unemployment insurance beyond normal right after the recession hit,” Obama said. “We were able to extend it again in 2010. It’s been harder now to get Congress to extend it further.”

“And so we’ll continue to negotiate with Congress to make sure that unemployment is there,” the president added. “But the most important thing I want to do is make sure your dad can get a job.”

Two million people will be cut off from benefits when federal unemployment insurance expires the week between Christmas and New Year’s Day, according to the National Employment Law Project, a worker advocacy group based in New York. But Congress is not ready to worry about it. The Huffington Post asked lawmakers on Tuesday if preserving unemployment insurance in 2013 is on their radar.

“No, it’s not,” Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.), chairman of Senate committee that oversees unemployment insurance, said as he boarded a Senate elevator. “Not yet.”

“I have not heard any discussion about what we can do there,” said Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.), who has made a lot of noise lately about safety net programs like food stamps and Social Security Disability Insurance. “I have not given thought to what precisely we ought to do, whether it’s phasing down or what. The fundamental thing is we need to create more jobs … and everybody has got to be out hustling to find work. There’s just no other way to make America productive.”

On the House side, Rep. Dave Camp (R-Mich.), the chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, has not hinted at what might happen. The highest-ranking Democrat on the committee, Rep. Sandy Levin (D-Mich.), told The Hill earlier this month that it all depends on the November elections, which could change the balance of power in Congress and the White House.

“We’ve had a struggle with the Republicans. They continue to think that it’s a disincentive” for people to look for jobs, Levin said. “So we’re going to continue the battle; whether we win it or not will depend more on Nov. 6.”

Economists expect the national unemployment rate to remain above 8 percent for the rest of the year; Congress routinely gives the jobless workers extended benefits during recessions and has never dropped benefits when the unemployment rate is above 7.2 percent.

Federal benefits kick in for workers who exhaust the standard 26 weeks of state benefits without finding work. Late in 2009, Congress extended the combined duration of state and federal benefits to 99 weeks. Subsequent reauthorizations all happened either at the last minute or after benefits lapsed for weeks. In February, Republicans and Democrats struck a deal to gradually wind down the maximum duration to 73 weeks by the end of this year.

In addition to the 2 million people whose federal benefits will abruptly stop on Dec. 29, another 900,000 will be left hanging after they run out of state benefits during the first three months of 2013, according to the National Employment Law Project. More than 5 million people had been out of work for six months or longer in June, according to the Labor Department, and the average unemployed person had been out of work for 39.9 weeks.

But in Congress, unemployment insurance is overshadowed by other financial matters, including the expiration of Bush-era tax cuts, the end of a 2 percentage point reduction in the Social Security payroll tax, and scheduled cuts to defense spending that Republicans are desperate to avoid. Lawmakers call it the “fiscal cliff.”

“It’s unfortunate,” said NELP senior staff attorney George Wentworth. “You’re talking about 2 to 3 million Americans for whom losing unemployment insurance is their fiscal cliff.”

 Unemployment Insurance Not On Congressional Radar.

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Report On Continuing Plight Of Millions Of Unemployed Americans Results In Round Of High-Fives At Romney Campaign Headquarters | The Onion – America’s Finest News Source

Posted by Michael B. Calyn in Humor/Parody on July 4, 2012


Report On Continuing Plight Of Millions Of Unemployed Americans Results In Round Of High-Fives At Romney Campaign Headquarters

JULY 2, 2012  

Romney staffers say the dismal economic forecast is cause for “great celebration.”

BOSTON—Bleak unemployment numbers released Wednesday reportedly sent a wave of applause cascading through the headquarters of Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign, with staffers rejoicing at news that millions of jobless Americans will continue to face crippling debt and emotional hardship as the election draws near.

Calling the Labor Department report a “major boost” for the campaign, sources confirmed the grim economic data and deeply troubling descent of unemployed Americans into utter financial ruin spurred a round of high-fives among Romney aides, followed by repeated hoots, hollers, and whistles.

“Yes!” said senior strategist Stuart Stevens, slamming his hand triumphantly on his desk while scanning recent household survey figures that confirm recovery of the labor markets remains discouragingly slow. “Are you guys seeing this? Someone go make copies. I want everyone to see this right now.”

“Has anyone told Mitt yet?” he added as news spread from cubicle to cubicle along with fresh bursts of cheering. “Tell [senior adviser] Beth [Meyers] to put him on speakerphone. He’s going to totally flip out.”

According to sources, campaign workers slapped each other on the back in giddy delight as Stevens explained that as far as voters and the media were concerned, the latest unemployment figures would firmly supersede any earlier data suggesting the economy had experienced modest growth.

Stevens then added, with an audible chuckle, that the report’s grim statistical portrait of a nation plagued by planned layoffs, plummeting consumer confidence levels, and a stubbornly high number of jobless claims “should hopefully deal a pretty good blow” to President Barack Obama’s job-creation platform.

“We got [Romney's] voicemail,” Meyers shouted while holding a cell phone over her head. “On the count of three, I want everyone to make as much noise as they can.”

“One…two…three—wooooooo!” she added.

Sources noted that Romney headquarters had not experienced such a palpable sense of optimism since employers added a disappointing 69,000 jobs in May, a “pleasantly surprising” dip in the labor market that made staffers realize they “definitely have a shot at winning this thing.”

“I believe a celebration is in order,” director of speechwriting Lindsay Hayes reportedly told a group of ecstatic college interns before exchanging broad, delighted smiles with press secretary Andrea Saul. “Drinks after work. Be there or be square, folks.”

The campaign called the timing of Wednesday’s report ideal, as it followed a string of “pretty bad setbacks,” including last winter’s three months of solid economic growth, which raised morale for millions of struggling workers; Congress’ decision in February to extend long-term jobless benefits; and recent reports that new houses are being built at the fastest rate in years.

“They said the road would be tough, but Mitt always said things would turn around, and he was right,” an emotional Stevens told colleagues, holding up the report on the nation’s moribund economy. “This just goes to show that great things can happen if you keep the faith.”

When finally reached by phone, Romney told campaign workers that while the dreary news for the nation’s job market was certainly a victory, there was still a lot more work to be done.

“Great work, guys,” the candidate said between fundraising events. “Let’s build on this.”

 Report On Continuing Plight Of Millions Of Unemployed Americans Results In Round Of High-Fives At Romney Campaign Headquarters | The Onion – America’s Finest News Source.

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No Money, No Honey: Unemployed Men Are Deal Breakers for Straight Women – Medical Daily

Posted by Michael B. Calyn in Perspective, Society on July 2, 2012


No Money, No Honey: Unemployed Men Are Deal Breakers for Straight Women

Even in the face of today’s tough economy and high unemployment rate, a new study revealed that it is still no excuse: in dating, unemployment is a deal breaker, particularly for straight women.

BY CHRISTINE HSU | JUNE 29, 2012

 

Even in the face of today’s tough economy and high unemployment rate, a new study revealed that it is still no excuse: in dating, unemployment is a deal breaker, particularly for straight women.

Of course it’s not uncommon for people looking for a relationship to keep a mental checklist of qualities required of their potential lovers, but a recent survey revealed that a whopping 75 percent of straight women had problems with dating an unemployed man.

couple

Photo: REUTERS/Brendan McDermid
Of course it’s not uncommon for people looking for a relationship to keep a mental checklist of qualities required of their potential lovers, but a recent survey revealed that a whopping 75 percent of straight women had problems with dating an unemployed man.

 

The survey, sponsored by dating site “It’s Just Lunch” surveyed 925 single women and found that only 4 percent of respondents answered “of course” when asked whether they would go out with an unemployed man, while the other 21 percent said “Yes” but were curious to see how the men were doing in the meantime.

“Not having a job will definitely make it harder for men to date someone they don’t already know,” Irene LaCota, spokesperson for “It’s Just Lunch” said in a statement. “This is the rare area, compared to other topics we’ve done surveys on, where women’s old-fashioned beliefs about sex roles seem to apply.”

Of the 75 percent of women who had problems with dating a man without a job, only about 33 percent said that unemployment was a deal breaker that cannot be overlooked, but a generous 43 percent said they would consider dating someone who was unemployed only if he was “getting back on track” to securing employment.

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However, the survey revealed that men were far more open-minded when it comes to dating a woman without a job.

The survey revealed that almost two out of every three men are open to dating a woman without a job with 19 percent saying that there was no problem at all and 46 percent saying that they would but was also interested in knowing how the women spent their time.

The research found that women were more concerned with men being “engaged in an activity” rather than having a huge paycheck.

“Even at my age, 75, and dating if you can believe it if a man is not employed, volunteering, involved in life it’s a deal breaker,” Patricia Weaver, a 75-year-old film maker said in a statement.

Other women are afraid that dating an unemployed man will come with financial obligations.

“While my heart goes out to people who are unemployed or under-employed in this economy,” said another woman, Carole Bartholomeaux, in the press release. “I will not have a relationship with someone whom I need to support.”

 No Money, No Honey: Unemployed Men Are Deal Breakers for Straight Women – Medical Daily.

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