Jobless claims up 12% in past 2 weeks

[jannyk]

Source: CNNMoney

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- The number of Americans filing for initial unemployment insurance surged to just below the 500,000 level last week, and have climbed more than 12% over the past two weeks, the government said Thursday.

There were 496,000 initial job claims filed in the week ended Feb. 20, up 22,000 from a revised 474,000 the previous week, the Labor Department said in a weekly report. The prior week, there were 442,000 claims filed.

A consensus estimate of economists surveyed by Briefing.com expected new claims to fall to 460,000.

Continuing claims: The government said 4,617,000 people filed continuing claims in the week ended Feb. 13, the most recent data available. That's up 6,000 from the preceding week's revised 4,611,000 claims.

The 4-week moving average for ongoing claims rose by 4,250 to 4,600,750 from the previous week's revised 4,596,500.

Read more: http://money.cnn.com/2010/02/25/news/economy/initial_claims/?postversion=2010022509

[Hell Hath No Fury]

1. Anyone who thinks we are --

out of the woods on this mess is plain ol' crazy. :(

[yava]

12. its so sad!

and all is well on Wall St
Champaigne and bonuses.

[WriteDown]

2. Weird, why isn't this "unexpected?" nt

[OhioChick]

3. People need JOBS n/t

[Mithreal]

4. Some people are doing really well this Great Recession.

The highest group, with household incomes of $150,000 or more, had an unemployment rate during that quarter of 3.2 percent. The next highest, with incomes of $100,000 to 149,999, had an unemployment rate of 4 percent.

Contrast those figures with the unemployment rate of the lowest group, which had annual household incomes of $12,499 or less. The unemployment rate of that group during the fourth quarter of last year was a staggering 30.8 percent. That’s more than five points higher than the overall jobless rate at the height of the Depression.

The next lowest group, with incomes of $12,500 to $20,000, had an unemployment rate of 19.1 percent.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/09/opinion/09herbert.html?ref=opinion

Obama's chief economic advisor blames unemployment at least in part on unionization.

Another cause of long-term unemployment is unionization. High union wages that exceed the competitive market rate are likely to cause job losses in the unionized sector of the economy. Also, those who lose high-wage union jobs are often reluctant to accept alternative low-wage employment. Between 1970 and 1985, for example, a state with a 20 percent unionization rate, approximately the average for the fifty states and the District of Columbia, experienced an unemployment rate that was 1.2 percentage points higher than that of a hypothetical state that had no unions. To put this in perspective, 1.2 percentage points is about 60 percent of the increase in normal unemployment between 1970 and 1985.

http://www.econlib.org/library/Enc/Unemployment.html

[OhioChick]

5. 3.2-4%, huh?

Must be nice.

Interesting links. Thanks for posting.

[zogofzorkon]

6. Its definetely the unions

Yup no doubt about it. Without them we could all have low wage wage jobs w/ no benefits and totally undefined job descriptions, and no right to grievances and non existent safety standards and arbitrary calculations of hours worked. With a little luck and help from congress, the whitehouse and the courts maybe we will be rid of those job sucking unions soon and the road to full job slavery will be clear.

[Jimbo S]

8. I wonder if the high earners

are shielded from layoffs due to them holding senior level positions? They're the most knowledgeable employees, most difficult to replace, and whose talent would be most missed. That's been my experience in the past.

For unskilled labor, the more you make, the greater the savings with layoffs. Also, the more replaceable you are.

[mbperrin]

9. They're certainly able to cling to their position on top of the ladder!

During the 81 slowdown here, our company laid off 10 machinists of 20 years experience each on average, but we kept the owner's son, the vp of operations. I quit shortly after that. A year later, a company in business for 42 years closed their doors.

Saw it in savings and loans here during that meltdown,too. The actual link between work and reward has been severely damaged for a long time in my own experience.

[boppers]

10. Wait, what?

3.2% are making 150,000+ a year... without a job?

[Mithreal]

11. That was my first thought, ironic.

[AngryAmish]

7. Way to go, Bush!