Unemployment claims have fallen slightly for the third week in a row but there are still too many first time claims being filed to indicate that there have been significant job gains. Unemployment claims fell 5,000 to 457,000 according to the Labor Department. The four-week average of unemployment claims dropped to 471,250. Despite this the [...]
Continue reading...Tuesday, December 8, 2009
As anticipated, President Obama is proposing using some of the $200 billion in TARP money that has already been repaid by banks to fund infrastructure improvements that would both provide jobs and fix badly outdated portions of our transportation and information infrastructure. In addition, the President proposed tax cuts for small businesses and individual [...]
Continue reading...Friday, November 6, 2009
The national unemployment rate moved up another .4 percent in October to a 25 year high of 10.2 percent. Employers cut more jobs than forecast, nudging the number up further than had been expected. Construction and manufacturing jobs continue to show the largest declines. The news isn’t all grim, however. The rate of [...]
Continue reading...Friday, October 16, 2009
Minnesota experienced a .7% reduction in its jobless rate last month, falling from 8% to 7.3%. On the surface, this looks like good news for the state, but the state also lost 7,900 jobs in the same time period. The apparently contradictory numbers result from different methodologies used to compute the statistics. [...]
Continue reading...Thursday, October 8, 2009
For the two million unemployed Americans whose benefits are set to run out by the end of the year, this will come as welcome relief. Senate Democrats have reached a consensus on a bill to extend unemployment benefits for everyone by 14 weeks, and an additional 6 weeks for anyone in a state with [...]
Continue reading...Sunday, May 24, 2009
The number of Americans currently receiving unemployment benefits rose to 6.6 million in April, the highest rate since record-keeping began in 1967. New jobless claims fell to 631,000 last week, down from 643,000 the previous week. Economists expect Big Three automakers Chrysler and GM to shut down plants this summer. These losses, and associates losses for auto [...]
Continue reading...Friday, April 17, 2009
The Florida Agency for Workforce Innovation is establishing an Orlando call center to handle record numbers of callers with questions about their unemployment compensation. The new call center will be operated by Hampton, Virginia call center firm Faneuil, and will employ 180. The company currently employs 2,400 people at 12 locations in Florida. Florida’s unemployment rate reached [...]
Continue reading...Monday, April 13, 2009
Hino Motors has laid off 10 full-timers at its Williamstown, West Virginia commercial truck manufacturing plant. The plant employs about 100 people. Hino is offering severance packages to those laid off. The Workforce West Virginia Rapid Response Team will help the affected employees with unemployment compensation and worker training. Hino Motors is a manufacturer of diesel trucks, buses, [...]
Continue reading...Thursday, April 2, 2009
Manufacturer Kohler is cutting 455 jobs at its headquarters in Kohler, Wisconsin, due to declining sales. The affected employees, who are part of the global power group, kitchen & bath group, and corporate operations, were notified this week. They include 357 production and 98 administrative positions. Kohler will remain Sheboygan County’s largest employer with about 6,300 workers. Affected [...]
Continue reading...Saturday, March 28, 2009
Kansas lost 16,000 jobs since last February, a 1.2% decrease, according to a report from the Kansas Department of Labor. The state’s unemployment rate is 6.2%, up from 4% last year. The Wichita Metropolitan Statistical Area reported an unemployment rate of 6%, up from 3.7%. There were 23,980 initial claims for unemployment benefits in February, down from 26,744 [...]
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Thursday, March 18, 2010
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