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85,000 Jobs Lost in December
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Despite the predictions of many economists, job loss worsened in December, with a net loss of 85,000 jobs. The U.S. Department of Labor jobs data out today shows the number of those officially unemployed—15 million—remains the same, as does the 10 percent unemployment rate.
But the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) says the jobless rate remained unchanged only because the labor force declined by well over half a million (661,000) workers in December. If these workers had been in the labor force unemployed, the unemployment rate would have risen to 10.4 percent. Some 7.2 million jobs have been lost since the recession began in December 2007.
Employment in December fell in construction, manufacturing and wholesale trade, while temporary help and business services, health care and education added jobs. Unemployment among teens is at a devastating 27.1 percent and for blacks, 16.2 percent. The jobless rate for Latinos is at 12.9 percent and for white workers, 9 percent.
But when both unemployed and underemployed workers are counted, there still are some 26 million people without jobs or full-time work. Another sign of the depth of the jobless rate that often goes unreported: The number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks and over) continued to worsen, hitting 6.1 million. In December, four in 10 unemployed workers were jobless for 27 weeks or longer and there are now six job-seekers for every one job available.
More than 7.2 million jobs have been lost since then.
Overall, the employment picture has improved over the past few months, with 450,000 jobless claims filed per week in December 2009, compared with 600,000 a week in March. In fact, weekly jobless claims in December were at the same level as in August 2008, right before the unemployment rate worsened dramatically, according to EPI economist Heidi Shierholz.
But Shierholz and EPI President Lawrence Mishel also warn that because the labor force has not grown in recent months, it’s a sign many people have given up looking for jobs or otherwise aren’t in the labor market. When the 2.7 million jobless workers who have left the labor market return to look for work, the unemployment rate could worsen rapidly unless Congress and the Obama administration support robust job creation.
Most economists don’t see the jobless rate improving for years, with estimates of 7 percent unemployment through 2012. Mishel says estimates by Goldman Sachs and economy.com predict unemployment could worsen to 10.5 percent this fall—and will fall to 9.7 percent only with a vigorous jobs initiative by Congress.
AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka says because it has taken “years of financial abuses and corporate giveaways to get us into this deep hole,”
we will only climb out if we keep our foot on the accelerator. We urge Congress to move quickly to pass emergency legislation. The bill passed by the House in December is a good start.
But more needs to be done. As part of the AFL-CIO jobs plan, we’re pushing Congress and the administration to:
- Rebuild America’s schools, roads and energy systems.
- Increase aid to state and local governments to maintain vital services.
- Put people to work doing work that needs to be done.
- Put TARP funds to work for Main Street.
The nation’s current “jobless recovery” (an oxymoronic euphemism for anyone out of work and struggling to feed a family), is unusual in several ways, including the extent to which young workers have been hard hit, says Shierholz.
We have never just seen anything like this in modern times, this broad a swath of young people affected by the labor market.
Another difference, says Mishel, is the fact, unlike in previous recessions, productivity has increased because employers have slashed hours worked.
Bruce Bostick, a member of Alliance for Retired Americans who was forced into early retirement because he can’t find any jobs, identifies one reason behind the nation’s jobs bleed.
For all the people I know, we have been facing an emotional as well as an economic depression for a long time now. The problems we are seeing are a result of an approach by politicians of redistributing wealth upward. The upward redistribution is now greater than it has ever been. We need to produce jobs for Main Street.
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19 Comments
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How can the Labor Force decline when you had those same uncounted people whos benefits exhausted before the latest ext.,filing new claims for the 3rd and 4th tier.Wouldnt that have put 10s of 1000s of new(really existing)people back on the jobless rolls?This is a continuation of BIZARRO world statistics,because if the real numbers were reported the world would truly see the DEPRESSION that we,the other 99% of this country are in!
We need petitions and model resolutions so we can get to work on this.
labordallas@sbcglobal.net
Unemployment is worse than official statistics would have people believe.discouraged,those whose benefits have run out ,the underemployed,and people on entitlementsie SSI,SSD, and others who want to work but cant get off because there are no jobs or the ones available pay so little it is a choice between collecting and having a residence or working and being homeless
to get a job making goods sold in America, you have to move to Mexico or China.
From the WSWS (World Socialist Web Site), a more detailed socialist analysis of the data from the U.S. Department of Labor. The full article link:
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2010/jan2010/jobs-j09.shtml
Mass layoffs at UPS, Lockheed Martin
US loses 85,000 jobs in December
By Tom Eley
9 January 2010
The US economy lost 85,000 jobs in December, the Labor Department reported Friday, the same day new major layoffs were announced by UPS and Lockheed Martin.
The ongoing destruction of jobs in what the Obama administration has touted as an economic “recovery,” is indicative of a social disaster affecting ever wider layers of the population. Friday’s report comes on top of a whole battery of recent reports showing the widespread growth of hunger, homelessness, and poverty.
The complacent talk of economic recovery and the promotion by the Obama administration of the supposed success of its policies reveal both its callous indifference to the social crisis and a deliberate policy of maintaining a high level of unemployment to weaken the resistance of the working class to attacks on its wages, working conditions and standard of living.
The December jobs report closed out an abysmal year for US workers. Job losses in 2009 totaled more than 4.2 million, and the average official unemployment rate was 9.3 percent, up from 5.8 percent in 2008—an increase of more than 60 percent. More than 15.3 million American workers are now officially unemployed, 3.9 million more than when the year began. Since December 2007, upwards of 8 million jobs have been lost.
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All indications are that for America’s workers, 2010 will be even worse than 2009.
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Thanks (JerryWells) I didn’t know about that site http://www.wsws.org alot of important information.
Obama represents change we can believe in — if we want to. But then, if we want to, we can believe in unicorns, fairies, the Loch Ness monster, Santa Claus, leprichauns, God, Allah, reincarnation, life after death, karma, miracles and magic. (Personally, I believe in death after life – If that theory is correct, we had better change the entire world while it still can support human habitation.) The workers in Chicago who took over their plant showed us the way. How is history changed? – by revolution. Until the American working class is ready to stop eating junk food and turn off their moronic “reality” TV shows and do for many years what MLK advocated – ‘Work together, struggle together, march together, go to jail together” we will be simply ignored whiners. We have got to purge our ranks of “business agents” and carreerist hacks and put forth new leaders who are ready to fight and die and kick some ass, we are all doomed. Cuba – a revolution I can believe in.
DAMN STRAIGHT!
Just a reminder that the so called “Free Trade” agreements received BI-PARTISAN support, thus the outsourcing of tens of thousands of US jobs. Let’s not forget the economic stimulus packages that bypassed the people and “bailed out” the corporations that got us into this mess. If President Trumka truly wants to create a “new economy” I recoomend he look someplace other than the two-party duopoly. Time to begin a Working Class/Peoples Political Party.
This will be hard to change without a change in mindset about manufacturing. If we produce what we consume as a nation, we will be headed in the right direction. But will that ever happen again?
I take it you don’t drink coffee.
I understand what your saying (MarkO) but we must also release the corporate grip on resources across the globe. There are elements in electronics currently vital to national security of which the mining rights belong to a single Japanese firm. This is an example of what should be fixed.
An example of how to fix this: We can’t grow rubber plants in the U.S., still neccessary for the production of tires and many other products. But the USW workers had the guts to stand up for the rubber plantation workers that were being exploited, keeping the global chain of production more fair for all involved.
But I do have a problem with the fact that we seem to keep closing down anything that makes durable goods in the U.S. but disposable, or parishable goods,… well we can keep that open: unhealthy food, saran wrap or styrofoam, Why can cell phones be made in Canada were the wages are closer to fair, but not here.
If it is truelly more efficient (not just cheaper labor) to make something (partly) somewhere else there is no problem with that, IF the workers are given the correct share. This is why I’d much rather buy something made in Japan (median income now higher than ours) or even Taiwan (a republic of China) rather than China or Mexico. Mexico has a mob controlled government and well…do have to even explain China mainland.
But if it were say between something like Japanese made or something made in a “right to work” hell hole like Mississipi well I’d be a little conflicted.
AFL-CIO supports illegal immigrants who are Stealing Jobs from UNITED STATES CITIZENS. What is WRONG with this Leadership?
There is no such thing as an “illegal immigrant”. There are only immigrants who entered legally and those who had no choice other than sneaking in – commiting at that time a one-time nonviolent misdemeaner. Ever break a law – ever? I sure have. Does that make me an “illegal citizen”?
What is WRONG with this Leadership? AFL-CIO supports illegal immigrants who are Stealing Jobs from UNITED STATES CITIZENS.
“What is WRONG with this Leadership? AFL-CIO supports illegal immigrants who are Stealing Jobs from UNITED STATES CITIZENS”
Something is rotten at the top of this union group.
Aahh – “illegal immigrants” – the racists’ new favorite racist term, replacing the “N word”, which now practically noone can say, or even write. (Read Huckleberry Finn anyway.) Some day, maybe they will be forced to say “the ‘I’ word” instead. (I can’t wait!) … Divide, and conquer – old but still quite effective. It worked for the Roman Empire for centuries.
I truly believe that these brothers are monumentally wrong when they spew their hatred for these helpless people.Put yourself in their shoes for asecond and please realize you would do the same thing if your home country was run by tyrants.I agree that for some people the hate runs so deep that the;(as you say the illegals)are the flavor of the month.
I used to feel the way they do, before I became educated. Before NAFTA Mexico actually had a middle class. They even had a law that cars assembled in for Mexico had to have a % Mexican parts. That got repealed. (can you belive that, we shrunk their auto industry!)
Most food for Mexico came from Mexico. After NAFTA are “high tech” factory farming is flooding there country with our “food” completely screwing their farmers.
So that tells you it’s not just a bunch of irresponsible people having to many kids putting thereselves in stupid positions. They’re in the same situation were in. And while people are squabling and listening to Lou Dobbs, corporate pigs are laughing till they piss themselves.
And it’s not just happening here, people from Thailand (& other ROC’s) are illegally immagrating to China for jobs corporate China stole, and Western Europeans into Eastern Europe.
It’s a big chess game to the reptiles in the executive suite. And I’m sure plenty of American citizens, otherwise good people, have illegally immegrated to Canada. And American citizins, probably criminals, have illegally immigrated to Mexico.
And frankly, I belive the INS is in the fist of corporate power as well. When you can threaten and divide people, you own them so why make them legal. And I here stories all the time, like a brtitish woman, lived here since she was 5, now 25 still not cleared for citizenship.
If your a roofer and you don’t like executive pigs screwing you out of your wages by taking advantage of immigrants, organise them, now your both one in the same NOT to be taken advantage of.
On a documentary Unnatural Causes they showed how even legal immigrants health takes a massive decline because they would rather be in the place they were comfortable, But they don’t have another choice they have a family to support.
The enemy (the ONLY enemy) is corporate, and has been for centuries.