unemployment

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Fed Announces $45B-a-Month Bond Buy

Plans to hold interest rates down until jobless rate hits 6.5%

(Newser) - The Federal Reserve dropped a bombshell today, announcing that it would spend $45 billion a month on bond purchases to keep interest rates low, and that it would keep its short-term rates near zero as long as it takes to get unemployment below 6.5%. It will also keep up...

Unemployment Falls to 7.7%
 Unemployment Falls to 7.7% 
Dec 7, 2012 7:49 AM CST

Unemployment Falls to 7.7%

But 'WSJ' calls report the least important in last 60 months

(Newser) - The unemployment rate fell from 7.9% to 7.7% in November, and the Wall Street Journal gives you permission to care a little less than usual. It calls today's report "the least important look at the labor market in about five years." That's because 1)...

Crazy Commute: Wisconsin Workers to Staff ND Store

Menard will fly 50 employees from Eau Claire to Minot weekly

(Newser) - And you thought your commute was bad: Home improvement retailer Menard plans to fly 50 workers weekly from its headquarters in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, to a store in the booming town of Minot, North Dakota. A nearby oil patch has swelled the town's population to nearly 50,000 (up...

Millions About to Lose Unemployment Benefits

Emergency payouts set to expire at year's end

(Newser) - Millions of Americans may be dreading New Year's Day—because that's when their unemployment benefits are scheduled to expire, reports the Wall Street Journal . Some economists dread it too, saying the federally backed emergency payments help the economy and put food on the table for 2.1 million...

Unemployment May Be Just as Bad for Heart as Smoking
Unemployment May Be Just as Bad for Heart as Smoking
study says
Nov 22, 2012 2:58 PM CST

Unemployment May Be Just as Bad for Heart as Smoking

Study finds the more job losses, the more your risk of heart attack

(Newser) - Depressing news from a new study: Losing a job repeatedly could be just as bad for your heart as smoking, high blood pressure, or diabetes, Time reports. The study looked at more than 13,000 adults aged 50 to 75 and followed them for 18 years, finding a strong link...

Hostess Starts Firing People
 Hostess Starts Firing People 
Nov 22, 2012 11:23 AM CST

Hostess Starts Firing People

About 3K will hold on to jobs for a few months

(Newser) - Yesterday a judge gave Hostess the OK to start winding down its operations, and the Twinkies maker isn't wasting any time. Bloomberg reports that the company has begun firing employees, with the CEO saying Hostess intended to fire 15,000 workers yesterday so their unemployment benefits could kick in....

Recession Quadrupled Suicide Rate
 Recession 
 Quadrupled 
 Suicide Rate 
study says
Nov 5, 2012 6:43 AM CST

Recession Quadrupled Suicide Rate

Study finds additional 1.5K deaths per year

(Newser) - The suicide rate rose four times more quickly between 2008 and 2010 than it did in the preceding eight years, a study finds, a jump of an extra 1,500 deaths per year. Between 1999 and 2007, the rate annually climbed by about 0.12 deaths per 100,000 people;...

US Adds 171K Jobs; Unemployment at 7.9%

And September and August figures revised upward

(Newser) - The last jobs report before the election hit today, and it was a good one. The economy added 171,000 jobs in October, the Labor Department reported, handily beating analysts' estimates . The unemployment rate ticked up to 7.9%, but according to Reuters that was because more people were entering...

Sweden's Jobs Plan: Pay Youth to Go to Norway

Town offers travel, accommodation in Oslo

(Newser) - Sweden has a new strategy to shrink widespread youth unemployment: Send the kids to Norway. The Swedish government is working with the small town of Soderhamn to fund journeys to Oslo for people between the ages of 18 and 28, the Telegraph reports. "We had an unemployment rate of...

On Eve of Big Jobs Report, a Solid Number

Initial jobless claims drop to 363K

(Newser) - US companies added a better-than-expected 158,000 jobs last month, finds a private report released today. The ADP survey, which has been pinged in the past for its swings-and-misses, was created using a methodology that was overhauled for the first time since 2001, reports Bloomberg . It was based on payroll...

Eurozone Unemployment Hits Record 11.6%

Greece and Spain see the worst of it

(Newser) - Unemployment in the 17-country eurozone hit a record high of 11.6% in September, official figures showed today, a sign the economy is deteriorating as governments struggle to get a grip on their three-year debt crisis. The rate reported by Eurostat, the EU's statistics office, was up from an...

We&#39;re Already Feeling the Fiscal Cliff
 We're Already 
 Feeling the 
 Fiscal Cliff 
new report
Oct 26, 2012 7:40 AM CDT

We're Already Feeling the Fiscal Cliff

Report says threat has cost US 1M jobs this year

(Newser) - We're not supposed to go over the "fiscal cliff"—an array of budget cuts and tax hikes that could cut $500 billion out of the economy—until January. But the US is already feeling the effects of the impending budget uncertainty, a report by the National Association...

'Mystery State' Behind Plunging Jobless Claims

Apparent snafu, probably by California, leads to 4-year low

(Newser) - Jobless claims plunged to 339,000 this week, putting them at a four-and-a-half-year low and drastically lower than the 370,000 economists expected, the Labor Department announced today. But there was a fly in the ointment. A department spokesperson said that one large state accounted for a large portion of...

Today's Political Football: Falling Jobless Rate

Obama, Romney spar over whether the lower rate means much

(Newser) - Today's unemployment numbers were bound to surface on the campaign, considering the rate dropped below the 8% threshold:
  • President Obama: “We are moving forward again," he said. "After losing more than 800,000 jobs a month when I took office, our businesses have now added 5.
...

Ex-GE Boss: Obama Must Be Tweaking Jobs Figures

Slew of tweets jump in on conspiracy theory

(Newser) - And a new conspiracy theory is born. The only explanation for the latest jobs data is that President Obama has been meddling with the numbers, says former GE CEO Jack Welch. "Unbelievable jobs numbers," he tweeted. "These Chicago guys will do anything... can't debate so change...

Unemployment Drops to 7.8%, 114K Jobs Added
Unemployment at 7.8%, Lowest in Obama's Term
jobs report
Oct 5, 2012 7:56 AM CDT

Unemployment at 7.8%, Lowest in Obama's Term

Rate drops as nation adds a so-so 114,000 jobs

(Newser) - The unemployment rate dropped to 7.8% last month, its lowest level since January 2009—meaning it's now officially lower than it was when President Obama took office, the Wall Street Journal reports. Today's jobs report also shows that 114,000 jobs were added; consensus had been 118,...

Jobs Are Being Created — in Fast Food

Cheap eateries are hiring, but they're not paying much

(Newser) - Next time you read a report about how many jobs the economy has added, remember that not all of them are good jobs. Food services accounted for nearly 30% of the jobs created in August, Bloomberg reports, and most of that growth is coming from fast-food chains like Wendy's...

Eurozone Unemployment Hits Record 11.4%

June, July, and August all at depressing level

(Newser) - Europe had a very cruel summer: Unemployment in the eurozone a record high of 11.4% in June, July, and August, the European Union's statistics office announced today. "An end to the horror is not in sight," says one economist. "Unemployment rates are still increasing and...

GDP Growth Revised Down to Anemic 1.3%

On the bright side, jobless claims fell

(Newser) - US economic growth was even worse than we thought in the April-June quarter, growing at a pace of just 1.3%, the Commerce Department announced today, down from its previous estimate of 1.7%. About half of that big revision reflected the punishing effect the summer's drought has had...

US Poverty Rate Still at Record Highs

But figures still better than analysts' predictions

(Newser) - The Census Bureau says the number of Americans in poverty stood at 15% in 2011 as the number of poor remained at record highs. About 46.2 million people, or nearly 1 in 6, were in poverty. The figures were better than the expectations of analysts who had predicted an...

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