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"In February, the civilian labor force participation rate (64.8 percent) and the employment-population ratio (58.5 percent) were little changed. (See table A-1.)" - US LABOR DEPT. as of March 5, 2010 (until numbers adjusted).Here I am watching CNN’s Wolfe Blitzer show and what does the woman say, that is host of her own show on CNN but that the 10% unemployment figure means that 91% of the people are employed. How can anyone be that stupid and have a job that pays? Does it look like 91% or 90% or even 85% of the people in the United States have a full-time good-paying job? Is that what she really believes and if she does, where is she getting her information? It is so completely wrong as to defy any good sense. Are these anchors, reporters and show hosts / show producers on CNN and elsewhere that far away from where everyone else is living?
Didn’t they just report a couple days ago, that there have been 23,000 more jobs lost by layoffs in March, regardless what the labor department unemployment numbers might say tomorrow? And, now they have a story about the causes of the Wall Street debacle. And, earlier on Rick’s List, they admitted to the fact that the $700 billion dollar bailout has become ACTUALLY $4.3 Trillion dollars. With the incredible numbers of people who are now unemployed or part-time employed or temporarily employed or not counted – the labor department figures even indicate that only about one-third of the employable population in the US is actually employed. It just depends on which part of the numbers that are considered.
Why didn’t the news broadcasters, their staff and producers across all the stations, know three years ago that there was a problem? I don’t understand how they would not have known when foreclosures were already at record levels, the currencies across the world were volatile and unstable, the markets were volatile and unstable, the commercial loans were either defaulting or in jeopardy of default, the bankruptcies of individuals and businesses across the US were at record-breaking highs and layoffs were being made in record numbers by the tens of thousands at a time. It isn’t rocket science.
Today, there is not 91% or 90% of our employable population that are employed. It just isn’t accurate to believe that.
– cricketdiane
** P.S. The best way to handle a situation such as the economic crisis in the US has been, is to get the clearest and most accurate picture possible in order to make decisions that take account of reality. It is reality that for what the taxpayers have paid to bailout the banks, financial firms, Wall Street firms, investment funds and others in corporate America – they could’ve written a check to every man, woman and child in America for a million dollars and they could’ve paid off their own damn mortgages, bills, created businesses, gone to universities and taken care of themselves for some time to come. But, nooooo –
And, the full amount of what it will cost the taxpayers, the families, the communities and America’s future are still not known from what they’ve done in the way they chose to do it already – but it will definitely be even more than the $4.3 Trillion dollars described on Rick’s List today on CNN from wherever they found the numbers – every state comptroller holds evidence that it is costing way more than that already and that is only the tip of the iceberg we’ve hit.
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The fiscal year-to-date average of seasonally adjusted weekly insured unemployment, which corresponds to the appropriated AWIU trigger, was 5.259 million. The increase in this number is attributable to the implementation of new seasonal factors.
In the week ending March 27, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 439,000, a decrease of 6,000 from the previous week’s revised figure of 445,000. The 4-week moving average was 447,250, a decrease of 6,750 from the previous week’s revised average of 454,000.
States reported 5,894,337 persons claiming EUC (Emergency Unemployment Compensation) benefits for the week ending March 13, an increase of 267,012 from the prior week. There were 2,172,852 claimants in the comparable week in 2009. EUC weekly claims include first, second, third, and fourth tier activity.
| EMPLOYMENT AND TRAINING ADMINISTRATION | USDL 10-395-NAT |
| Program Contact: | TRANSMISSION OF MATERIAL IN THIS |
| Scott Gibbons (202) 693-3008 | RELEASE IS EMBARGOED UNTIL |
| Tony Sznoluch (202) 693-3176 | 8:30 A.M. (EDT), THURSDAY |
| Media Contact : | April 1, 2010 |
| (202) 693-4676 |
**
THE EMPLOYMENT SITUATION -- FEBRUARY 2010 Nonfarm payroll employment was little changed (-36,000) in February, and the unemployment rate held at 9.7 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Employment fell in construction and information, while tem- porary help services added jobs.The number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks and over) was 6.1 million in February and has been about that level since December. About 4 in 10 unemployed persons have been unemployed for 27 weeks or more. (See table A-12.) In February, the civilian labor force participation rate (64.8 percent) and the employment-population ratio (58.5 percent) were little changed. (See table A-1.)The number of persons working part time for economic reasons (sometimes refer- red to as involuntary part-time workers) increased from 8.3 to 8.8 million in February, partially offsetting a large decrease in the prior month. These in- dividuals were working part time because their hours had been cut back or be- cause they were unable to find a full-time job. (See table A-8.) About 2.5 million persons were marginally attached to the labor force in February, an increase of 476,000 from a year earlier. http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.nr0.htmEmployment Situation Summary
Transmission of material in this release is embargoed USDL-10-0256 until 8:30 a.m. (EST) Friday, March 5, 2010 Technical information: Household data: (202) 691-6378 * cpsinfo@bls.gov * www.bls.gov/cps Establishment data: (202) 691-6555 * cesinfo@bls.gov * www.bls.gov/ces Media contact: (202) 691-5902 * PressOffice@bls.gov THE EMPLOYMENT SITUATION -- FEBRUARY 2010 ***A simple google search on business bankruptcies 2009 - on its first few results -
New Generation Research - Experts in Bankruptcy Research
BankruptcyData.com... is the premier business bankruptcy resource on the web. ... For the fourth quarter of 2009, net broadcast revenues decreased 10.1% to ...Business Bankruptcies Looming In 2009 | The Onion - America's ...
Jan 28, 2009 ... Thus far, 2009 is shaping up to be a tough year for businesses, with three large companies—telecommunications giant Nortel, chemical...
http://www.theonion.com/.../business-bankruptcies-looming-in-2009,8516/ - CachedNortel Bankruptcy Just the Tip of the 2009 Business Bankruptcy ...
Jan 14, 2009 ... A Nortel Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing sent stocks into a tailspin. The Nortel news and declining December retail sales may be signs that the ...
http://www.associatedcontent.com/.../nortel_bankruptcy_just_the_tip_of_the.html - Cached - SimilarSmall Business Bankruptcy Climbs 81% in June - Bankruptcy & Debt ...
Behind the Business Bankruptcy Statistics - BusinessWeek
The hottest trend in 2009: declaring bankruptcy - Roubini Global ...
Dec 29, 2008 ... "We will have a lot fewer stores by the middle of 2009," says Nancy Koehn, ... In 2008:3 (third quarter of 2008), total business bankruptcy ...
http://www.roubini.com/.../the_hottest_trend_in_2009_declaring_bankruptcy - CachedAmerican Bankruptcy Institute | Home
H.R. 4677, the “Protecting Employees and Retirees in Business Bankruptcies Act of 2010. ... H.R. 3639, the "Expedited CARD Reform for Consumers Act of 2009. ...
http://www.abiworld.org/ - Cached - SimilarSmall-business bankruptcies rise 81% in California - Los Angeles Times
Dec 22, 2009 ... The Obama administration's new plan to give a boost to small businesses reflects continued trouble in that sector, which is facing new ...
articles.latimes.com/2009/.../business/la-fi-smallbiz-bankruptcy22-2009dec22 - CachedDelaware Business Bankruptcy Report : Delaware Business Bankruptcy ...
U.S. business bankruptcies rise 38 pct in 2009 | Reuters
Jan 5, 2010 ... Business, consumer bankruptcies up in 2009 By Chelsea Emery NEW YORK, Jan 5 (Reuters) - US business bankruptcies rose 38 percent last year, ...
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN059048720100105 - Cached***
My Note - when I said three years ago, that people needed to come to terms with what they would do if
they expected to be unemployed for five years - well, that is reality. And it was reality even then.To pretend that it wasn't so, didn't change a thing.
- cricketdiane
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Cricketdiane's Weblog 
21st Centuty employee loyalty. Businesses are into a phase of creative disassembly where reinvention and adjustments are constant. Hundreds of thousands of jobs are being shed by Lockheed Martin, Chevron, Sam’s Club, Wells Fargo Bank, HP, Starbucks etc. and the state, counties and cities. Even solid world class institutions like the University of California Berkeley under the leadership of Chancellor Birgeneau & Provost Breslauer are firing employees, staff, faculty and part-time lecturers through “Operational Excellence (OE) initiative”: last year 600 were fired, this year 300. Yet many employees, professionals and faculty cling to old assumptions about one of the most critical relationship of all: the implied, unwritten contract between employer and employee.
Until recently, loyalty was the cornerstone of that relationship. Employers promised work security and a steady progress up the hierarchy in return for employees fitting in, accepting lower wages, performing in prescribed ways and sticking around. Longevity was a sign of employer-employee relations; turnover was a sign of dysfunction. None of these assumptions apply today. Organizations can no longer guarantee work and careers, even if they want to. Senior managements paralyzed themselves with an attachment to “success brings success’ rather than “success brings failure’ and are now forced to break the implied contract with their employees – a contract nurtured by management that the future can be controlled.
Jettisoned employees are finding that their hard won knowledge, skills and capabilities earned while being loyal are no longer valuable in the employment market place.
What kind of a contract can employers and employees make with each other?
The central idea is both simple and powerful: the job or position is a shared situation. Employers and employees face market and financial conditions together, and the longevity of the partnership depends on how well the for-profit or not-for-profit continues to meet the needs of customers and constituencies. Neither employer nor employee has a future obligation to the other. Organizations train people. Employees develop the kind of security they really need – skills, knowledge and capabilities that enhance future employability. The partnership can be dissolved without either party considering the other a traitor.
Let there be light!