Employment News Feb. 7 - 11

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News
FRIDAY
Dems Ask GOP: 'Where Are the Jobs?'
What's missing? Jobs, Democrats say, claiming the GOP is glossing over what should be America's No. 1 priority.
Poll: Unemployment Most Important Problem
More Gallup respondents cite joblessness as their biggest concern than in any year since 1983.
Higher Pay Gains Seen for 2011
U.S. workers have reason to hope for slightly better pay raises this year, a shift that could add momentum to the economic recovery.
Unemployment 101: Who pays for jobless benefits, anyway?
Employers pay state and federal taxes to cover all those unemployment checks. But with unemployment at 9 percent, those taxes aren't enough, leaving some states in dire straits.

THURSDAY
Jobless claims fall to 2-1/2 year low
The number of Americans filing for first-time unemployment benefits fell to the lowest level in more than 2-1/2 years last week, easing some of the disappointment about a weak monthly jobs report.
New claims for unemployment benefits lowest since '08
The number of people applying for unemployment benefits fell last week to the lowest level in nearly three years.
Some jobless don't look for jobs. They start a business.
New business starts hit a 14-year high in 2009. But succeeding is a challenge.

WEDNESDAY
Obama looks to help states with jobless aid
States and companies may get a little more help from Washington in dealing with high unemployment costs -- at least for the next two years.
Bernanke Says Unemployment to `Remain Elevated'
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said the unemployment rate is likely to remain high “for some time” even after the biggest two-month drop in the jobless rate since 1958.

TUESDAY
After years on sidelines, work feels good to them
Long-term unemployed re-enter workforce with relief, resolve.
Obama Plans Jobless Aid Help for States
The Obama administration is proposing short-term relief to states saddled with unemployment insurance debt, coupled with a delayed increase in the income level used to tax employers for the aid to the jobless.
Job Openings in U.S. Decrease to Three-Month Low
Job openings in the U.S. decreased in December to the lowest level in three months, signaling a sustained labor-market recovery will take time to develop.

MONDAY
Obama's jobs plan: On a collision course with GOP budget cuts?
The Obama administration outlined an 'innovation strategy' Friday. But GOP plans for budget cuts would fall in some of the same general categories that Obama hopes to target for investment.
The job market is getting better. Really.
Unemployment has tumbled by nearly a full percentage point in the last two months, even though employers didn't hire many people.
Unemployment rate dives, but few new jobs created. How can that be?
Unemployment rate dropped from 9.4% to 9.0% last month, according new Labor Department statistics. But only 36,000 new jobs were created. Where did the rest of the unemployed go?
No Rush to Hire Even as Profits Soar
Corporate profits are humming, dividend increases are up sharply and the Dow Jones Industrial Average is back above 12000. It makes job growth the missing link as the U.S. economy mounts a rebound.
How to find the perfect startup job
Discussions about startups often focus on founders or investors, but most people in the startup game are regular employees. So how do you find a startup job?
Layoffs become rarer even with unemployment high
The U.S. labor force has been split into two groups: the relieved and the desperate.

Economist Comments
THURSDAY
Reaganomics: What We Learned
From December 1982 to June 1990, Reaganomics created over 21 million jobs. The right policies can do it again.

WEDNESDAY
Bernanke: Inflation, Job Creation Too Low
U.S. unemployment remains too high for policymakers' comfort despite signs of strength in the economic recovery, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said on Wednesday.
Doing the Math on a Jobless Recovery
President Obama has urged us to be patient, but must we wait until 2018 to get back to full employment?

TUESDAY
Issa’s List: 'Five Biggest Job Killing Regulations'
So what are these regulations that are snuffing out economic growth and job creation just when we need it most? House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa, R-Calif., invited nearly 150 corporations and trade associations to identify current or proposed regulations that have had a negative effect on job growth.
Why the January Jobs Report Is Alarming
The January nonfarm payroll number was 130.27 million, but what does that actually mean for the economy?

MONDAY
The Employment Number's Understatement
Studies going back to the 1970s have shown that the official unemployment rate is significantly understated in periods of high unemployment, like now.
What's So Bad About a Drop in the Labor Force?
Yes, a sizable chunk of it is probably folks who are so frustrated with dim job prospects that they've stopped looking. But maybe they're using that time for more fulfilling activities.
Scaling up innovation creates jobs
The reorganization of President Barack Obama’s economic team is exactly what’s needed now.
Employment in Pictures (Since BLS Numbers Are Misleading)
Total nonfarm payrolls fell by 2.9 million in January from December. These are the actual numbers, not those of the BLS, which dropped 1,000 words from the labor force.

Blogs
FRIDAY
'Green' Spontaneous Order
Government has no place in the energy business. If we stop subsidizing all forms of energy, then a spontaneous order will emerge that will allow the best form of energy to out-compete the rest. If green energy truly works, people will invest in it, and jobs will be created. That is the free market at work. We don’t need the central planners to pick winners. In the end, that just makes us all losers.
What Happens When Economists Skip Econ 101
Suppose the government forces a company to take all the money it would have paid person A and use it to hire person B instead. How many jobs have been created? If you said, “One direct job, one indirect job, and a number of uncounted induced jobs,” call the University of Massachusetts, because you qualify to do economic analysis at their Political Economy Research Institute (PERI).

THURSDAY
On the Reported Unemployment Rate
I certainly do not mean to suggest that the official reported unemployment rate is perfect or unable to be improved. But it strikes me as too ‘iffy’ – and sometimes even too politically convenient – to conclude that the ‘true’ rate of unemployment is ever anything other than the official reported rate. That official rate, for all of its faults, is the one we’ve used in the U.S. for years and we either ditch it for a new and better method of measurement or we accept the reported rate as is – again, despite its known imperfections.
Abolish Federal Job Training Programs
A report from the Government Accountability Office finds that the federal government administers 47 different employment and job training programs at a cost to taxpayers of about $18 billion.

WEDNESDAY
Strikes, Lockouts Remained Near Record Lows in 2010
Last year represented the second-least-active period for strikes and lockouts on record, in a sign of just how troubled the labor market has been, a U.S. government report Tuesday said.
Excellent Sentences
Economic activity consists of people specializing and doing things for one another. This is more productive than doing things for yourself. That is why economic activity is a good thing. That is why jobs are a good thing.
Why Aren’t Employers Hiring?
There’s a growing contrast between how much employers say they want to hire and how much they’re actually hiring.
BLS: Job Openings decline in December, Labor Turnover still Low
From the BLS: Job Openings and Labor Turnover Summary
Why The January Jobs Report Is Alarming
The January nonfarm payroll number was 130.27 million — a figure first reached in October 1999. That’s right! The fabled American job machine has come to resemble nothing so much as Cisco’s stock price. For the last 12 years, the nonfarm job count has been revisiting the same point over and over again, and each time it crosses from below Wall Street economists put on their best John T. Chambers imitation and whoop it up for job growth.
The Unseen Consequences of "Green Jobs"
Will investing in clean energy harm the economy?

TUESDAY
US Chamber of Commerce: Obama makes a bargain
In Obama's speech to the US Chamber of Commerce, the president said his administration will help businesses if they hire more Americans.
Are Jobless Claims Overstating Labor Pain?
A closely watched measure of unemployment likely overstated labor market pain last year. Even so, the discovery didn’t mean finding a job was any easier in 2010.
Unemployment and labor shortages—at the same time?
Even at 7.4 percent unemployment, Germany says it is short on workers in some sectors.

MONDAY
Canada Labor Market Mocks America’s
The Canadian and U.S. labor markets are currently mirror images of each other, and that’s fostering a straightforward strategy for currency traders: Buy the dollar of the north, sell the dollar of the south.
Full-time unemployment drops 1 percent from November
The latest unemployment report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that full-time jobless workers account for 88.5 percent of all unemployed workers.
Daily Color: Two Employment Surveys, Different Results
How can the unemployment rate fall sharply if the economy is adding so few jobs, especially since the population is growing?
Blast From the Past: Lessons From 1996 Jobs Report
Stormy weather was a big culprit in January’s startling 201,000-job plunge in payrolls and a rise in the unemployment rate to 5.8%. Still, mounds of snow couldn’t hide the weakness in employment, particularly at factories.
Economists React: ‘Ton of Noise’ in Jobs Report
Economists and others weigh in on the January employment report.

Reports
WEDNESDAY
Help Wanted: How Federal Job Training Programs are Failing Workers
For the 13.9 million Americans out of work and the millions more
underemployed, no issue weighs more heavily than income security and
learning new skills to better compete in a challenging job market.4
Lawmakers should focus on putting Americans to work through the
execution of policies that support meaningful, long-term job growth.
Instead, the government has taken on a role for which it was never
intended, pouring billions of taxpayer dollars into a broken web of job
training and employment programs that are rife with waste, fraud and
abuse and lacking demonstrable effectiveness.

MONDAY
Heritage Employment Report: January Report Shows Some Thawing
The January report continues to show a divergence in the two surveys, with the household survey reporting fabulous news and the payroll survey painting a more worrying picture. Usually, the household survey is considered less precise than the payroll survey. However, the payroll survey could be significantly revised if the inclement weather proves to be a large negative factor in this month’s report.