Employment News Nov. 1-5

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News
FRIDAY
Obama calls on lame duck Congress to extend federal unemployment benefits
President Barack Obama yesterday repeated his call that the lame duck Congress — due to convene Nov. 15 — vote to extend the federal unemployment benefit program.
Walking the Walk: NJ Governor Christie to cut 1200 Public Sector Jobs
Governor Christie is not afraid to make the tough decisions in his state. Since assuming office, he has constantly been hammering the fact that his state needs to live within its means.

THURSDAY
Jobless claims surge to 457,000
More than 450,000 Americans filed for first-time unemployment insurance last week, a discouraging sign ahead of the government's highly anticipated monthly jobs report due Friday.
Lifeline at risk for 2 million jobless
Two million people will run out of unemployment benefits next month if Congress fails to act in the coming weeks.

WEDNESDAY
More mixed signals for jobs
The job market continues to show mixed signals, as two separate reports released Wednesday showed that companies added more jobs in October, but announced more staff cuts to come.
U.S. Job Creation Improves Slightly in October
Federal hiring and improvement in the West create slightly better job market conditions.

MONDAY
White-collar recession, blue-collar depression
Economists may have declared the 2007-09 recession over, yet the pain lingers.
Housing woes hit job seekers where it hurts
Not so long ago, you may recall, plenty of employers were willing to foot the bill for moving expenses, and maybe even compensate you for a loss on your house, if you pulled up stakes to accept a job in a different locale.

Economists Comments
WEDNESDAY
Jobs and Voters Exit Unreformed New York
States like California, New Jersey, Illinois and New York don't merely require a little tinkering, or a bit of public policy window dressing. They need big change that upsets apple carts and reestablishes the balance between the public and private sectors. Once our most prosperous state, New York lost that balance decades ago. It will take more than another set of reform promises for businesses and residents to stop packing the moving vans.

TUESDAY
A Con Job on Jobs
I was no fan of President Bush’s economic policies. But President Obama’s take on Bush-era job creation compared to his own is wide of the mark.

MONDAY
GOP challenge to Obama: jobs
“We believe we can expand our economy and create millions of jobs, if we take money out of Washington’s pockets and put it into the people’s pockets. They can invest it in a powerful force: the freedom of 300 million Americans to roll up their sleeves and pursue their dreams.

Blogs
FRIDAY
Employment-Population Ratio, Part Time Workers, Unemployed over 26 Weeks
Here are a few graphs based on the employment reports released today.
Broader U-6 Rate at 17%: The Long-Term Unemployed and the Dark Side of Jobs Report
The U.S. jobless rate was flat at 9.6% in October, but the government’s broader measure of unemployment dropped slightly to 17%, possibly due to long-term unemployed dropping out of the labor force.
Good News for the Class of 2011: You’re Hired
This year’s crop of college graduates is poised to have an easier job hunt than last year’s class, a new report shows.

TUESDAY
CFO’s Big Cost Worry: Employee Benefits.
A new survey of 508 U.S. chief financial officers and senior comptrollers find far more of them (84%) worried about rising employee benefit costs than worried about rising raw material (27%) or energy costs (21%).

MONDAY
Government Insourcing: Hurting the Economy and Wasting Taxpayers’ Dollars
Since the beginning of the Obama administration, the federal government has steadily increased the number of jobs transferred from private contractors to the civil service. Insourcing was supposed to save money, but the results tell a different story.
Job Creation and Tax Avoidance in Corporate America
The country's top companies don't have as much cash for hiring as many think, and tax laws give companies such as Google and Apple incentives to expand overseas.
What is Unseen
It bears repeating again and again: there is nothing economically special about international trade as compared to intranational trade – save, of course, for the sorry fact that politicians and rent-seeking producers find it easy to demagogue for their own greedy, narrow purposes.
One Date & Four Numbers on the Economy
January 2020 – It took 48 months to regain the lost 2.0% of jobs in the 2001 recession. At that rate, the U.S. would again reach 12/07 total payroll jobs around January 2020.
Secondary Sources: Foreclosures, Immigrants Create Jobs, Mideast Unemployment
A roundup of economic news from around the Web.

Reports
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