Unemployment jumps to 9.8% Nationally

[Jiggers]

Wheels on the bus go round and round…round and round…round then down..(repeat)

click

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2013582766_apuseconomy.html

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[Huindekmi]

The private sector adds ~50K jobs. State, Federal and Local govts cut jobs. We end up with a net positive gain of 39K jobs.

But the population and the workforce continue to grow. We need more than 10x that amount of new jobs each month to grow out of this mess. But no matter how many incentives you put in front of business, they won’t hire unless they have the customers to justify it.

Hey! You know what would be a great idea right now? Let’s cut off unemployment benefits! That will take money out of the economy and drive us deeper into recession!

Yay!

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[dawsonct]

What a brilliant idea H! I wonder if there is any way we could tie it into a big, continuing tax break to the only segment of the American population that has seen their wealth and standard of living improve over the last thirty years.

Maybe eventually they will invest in America, and create jobs!

I realize if you do something and continue to get the same, negative result, you should stop and try something different, but somehow, it just seems Right!

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[metrognome]

On top of that, recent reports indicate that lots of large companies have surplus cash but won’t use it to hire new workers/rehire laid-off workers. Wanna bet which political party they contribute to … could it be the one that was responsible for the economic catastrophe to begin with???

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[JanS]

gee, we’re not cynical, are we? Don’t you all know how good “trickle down” is? lololol…trickle down to their kids, maybe…

and while all of this remains muddled, what does congress do? Pass a bill lowering the decibels in commercials? Seriously? Just tell ’em to lower the effing things, or they’ll face huge fines…no need for bills in

congress that waste our time…geez!

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[JoB]

LOL.. what could i possibly add?

;->

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[skeeter]

Metrognome, your post got me thinking. If a large company has surplus cash, but feels the shareholders would be better served by saving the cash rather than hiring new employees, what should that company do?

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[hooper1961]

build public works projects so that society gets something for money spent.

actually the decibel bill is long over due

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[365Stairs]

While the jobless % is striking & impactful news (and probably higher if you factored all public/private sector jobs), I am always interested to know this:

How many available jobs (all types) are posted out there now that, if taken, would reduce this % nationally?

I understand the legimate debate over skilled work wages vs. service work wages and how demeaning it could be to take less than what you had before…that said…The other side of the coin on unenjoyment $$…is that there is growing % of recipients who are not “eager” to go find something with free $$ coming in…and they work under the table elsewhere.

The balance will never be achieved and there is no Reset Button to push.

People want to work will find a job.

I work (3) jobs to support my family. I enjoy each job and am thankful for each pay day!

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[hooper1961]

my ex gf worked really hard to find a job; thus they are there for those willing to work

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[JanS]

hooper, there isn’t a day that goes by when I have my finger on the remote to mute the too loud commercials…but it could have waited another month, while the important things are being hashed out. An act of congress to get them to turn them down? Really? Where’s the FCC? If they can fine for seeing Janet Jackson in a bit of disarray, they can damn well tell them to turn the things down or else! ’nuff said.

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[Ken]

http://cr4re.com/charts/charts.html#category=Employment&chart=EmploymentRecessionsNov.jpg

Denial is not just a river in Egypt.

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[DP]

365Stairs, I salute you for working three jobs and not whining about it. I’m proud of you and I wish I had your energy.

Some folks on public assistance are lazy goldbrickers, it’s true. But lots of other people on assistance are good folks who are just doing what’s logical in their circumstances.

Let’s say you’re on public assistance of some kind, (unemployment for example) and you land a tentative job. WHAM! they yank those benefits right out from under you, before you can build up any security or savings with the new job.

I’ve been through this experience myself, and it’s very demotivating. So anyway, that explains the decision of some folks to stay unemployes as long as they can, thereby “gaming the system.”

Beyond that, there’s this crazy disparity between what society has designated as a “high value” job versus a “low value” job. The way we set wages is crazy in my opinion. It’s so discouraging to blue collar and service workers that I can see why many of them would choose to stay home as long as they possibly could.

Consider this:

A high-value job = stock broker (>500K per year)

A low-value job = home health worker (<30K per year)

Both the stock broker and the home care worker love their jobs. Both are good at their jobs. But considering the pay differential, can you see how the hospice worker might want to game the system a little, once in a while, if she could?

I can.

But let me give you a more concrete example of what I’m talking about.

There’s a member of this forum who barely ekes out a living on her paid job. But, in addition to that job, she spends lots of her own time and money training and placing service animals for handicapped people. What this woman is doing is a very socially useful thing, in my opinion. Yet in order to keep doing it, she’s got to “cheat” the unemployment system and avoid getting that full-time job at Wal-Mart — because if she does go to work for Wal-Mart, then she won’t have the time or energy left over to do what she does with the service dogs.

Society needs people like you to do what you’re doing 365Steps. But we also need the service dog lady to do what she’s doing, don’t we?

I’m willing to tolerate a little distortion of the free market system in order to keep both of you meaningfully employed. And to keep myself employeed, for that matter.

–David “The Starving Editor” Preston

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[Ken]

Until you have heard the word “overqualified” for the 25th time from an HR mgr (who won’t meet your eyes) who was in elementary school when you were translating engineering documents from Japanglish and just plain insane ms-dos manuals and telco switch flow charts into real world business solutions, you don’t have any idea how hard it is to realize you have been ejected from the workforce.

A large percentage of those unemployed now and about to lose their unemployment, are over 40 and their crime is too much experience, seniority and vacation days.

And the cat-food commission want’s to raise the retirement age….

Every normal man must be tempted at times to spit upon his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin slitting throats

–Henry Louis Mencken

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[JanS]

personal perspective. I’m 63, I have been self-employed (massage therapist, no secret), since 1994. I have , in the last 6 years, faced some health hurdles that have made working sometimes difficult. I also work at the whim of others at times, although I am an insurance provider (meaning I do massage, insurance pays me). Being self-employed, health insurance is danged near impossible to come by, although I have been lucky in the last few years to have Medicaid through the WA State Breast, Colon and Cervical Health Program.(lucky , being that I had to have cancer to get it). I won’t for very much longer..and I have some serious health problems to deal with in the next year. It’s scary. I have been told by some well meaning friends in the last couple of years (not all of them, thank you), that I should go out and get a “real job”..you know, one with benefits. Now, where would I begin, at 63? What would I be qualified to do besides massage therapy? Sling burgers at the local Mickey D? Is that how I want to spend my “golden years”? And..would I be able to even do that job, be on my feet for an entire shift? I’m not so sure. Would I “play” the system, if “playing the system” were even in my vocabulary? Maybe…I can’t honestly say, no, I wouldn’t. These are tough times for a lot of people, no matter what some people think.

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[Smitty]

JanS, I honestly am not trying to get in a dig or make a point, but asking a serious question.

Do you have family? Kids, siblings? I understand that we all don’t.

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[JanS]

I have a daughter…who is getting married next summer..will be having kids.(and, she has volunteered a body part to be transplanted into mine, probably next year – don’t think I can ask for much more than that).I have elderly parents (85/86) who live in PA. Haven’t seen them since 2005. My only sister passed away at the end of 2005.

I am frightfully independent. And I just said something to a friend….. I may not have “wealth” in money, but I measure my wealth in other things – my friends, my community. Not everything has a dollar value, luckily. I make money..just remember that there are a lot of massage therapists to compete with. Retire? Hahaha..I scoff at those who argue about raising the retirement age. Ain’t gonna happen here. My joke is…I don’t golf, why would I retire?

We all have a story to tell. Mine is no more important than others. I am lucky in what I have. I have learned the difference between want and need. I have learned what I can live without…and if I don’t have the cash for it, I don’t get it. It’s that simple. I get angry at people who think that I can afford to give up more. I’ve given up a lot in my lifetime, and it’s time for someone else to carry some of the burden, IMHO.

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[JanS]

from the NBC 6pm news this evening. Recently, Delta Airlines said that they were going to be hiring 1000 more flight attendants. They received 100,000 applications/resume….for 1000 jobs..that’s how tough it is out there….

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[DP]

Ken bases his computer-tech fees on a person’s ability to pay and gives his customers the kind of old-fashioned service that you can’t get for love OR money any more.

What exactly is that worth in dollars? Will someone please explain it to me?

Do big corporations do what Ken does for his fellow human beings? If you don’t already know, why don’t you just stroll into the nearest Chase branch tomorrow and ask them to set your checking fee based on your “ability to pay”?

Yeah. That’s right. They’ll laugh you out of the joint — if you’re lucky.

So why is Chase Bank considered so much more valuable to society than people like Ken?

Damned if I know . . .

And Jan: Didn’t you mention once that you served our country in the military?

That ought to be worth something to society, I should think. At least enough to guarantee you some decent medical care and the assurance that you won’t go hungry.

I’m with Ken and Jan and the majority of people in this community who know, deep down, that there are some things you just can’t stuff into a box with a dollars-per-hour number stamped on it.

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[JanS]

yes, VA bennies have been applied for…I’m just guilty of weird timing. It won’t cover everything, but it will help make a dent..at least for health care. When I was in , and right after, bennies for women weren’t what they are now that women are on the front lines. It’s in my favor, hopefully.

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[dawsonct]

So, let me get this straight Metro, Companies and individuals are sitting on all this cash, but ARE NOT HIRING PEOPLE TO PRODUCE THEIR PRODUCT. Interesting. That seems completely antithetical to the principles of supply-side economics as espoused by Von Mises, Hayek, the Friedmans, Mundell, Laffer, promoted by Wanniski, and sold by Reagan.

I THOUGHT that if we syphoned our countries tax revenues into the pockets of a tiny group of very wealthy people and corporations, they were going to explode with creativity, and products, and jobs.

I thought if they had all that extra money, the desire to produce product would overwhelm them, the surplus of product was supposed to stabilize prices and increase competition, and all this stuff was supposed to drive consumers into a frenzy of purchasing which would naturally drive the demand for more product, thus create a need to hire more people.

(Funny, just typing those lines was like attempting to levitate by pulling on your own boot-straps).

Odd that supply-side isn’t playing out just like the promoters of that philosophy said it would.

Instead, it is proceeding EXACTLY like the detractors predicted.

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[dawsonct]

Jan, I wasn’t aware of the situation some of our women veteran soldiers are facing. Have you contacted Senator Murray’s office? She has been GREAT addressing veteran’s issues.

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[hooper1961]

she has been lousy addressing issues on health care.

i have contacted her office numerous times to ask why the law messed up health savings accounts so starting next year you can’t use the account to buy over the counter medications any more that is not right.

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[JoB]

i had to walk away from this topic until i calmed down.

the basic concept that people are only on unemployment benefits because they don’t want to work just fries me.

The latest stat i heard that really floored me is that 1000 people a month in Washington State will exhaust even extended unemployment benefits without finding any employment….

that’s any employment… even underemployment.. even part time.. even temporary.

This isn’t business as usual folks…

and anyone who thinks it is should go work at the local food bank for a day..

you’ll be amazed at who comes in there these days..

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[JoB]

Smitty…

when everyone is struggling just to keep a roof over their head and food on the table sometimes having family isn’t enough.

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[Author]

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