Unemployment Rises to 9.1%

[maxiep]

Partially the desire to offshore those things to foreign countries where it's "cheaper" to manufacture, so our rich overlords can get richer. The US is uncompetitive because we don't allow slave labor... Yet...

So, when the logging industry went to Canada, it's because they allow slave labor?

 

[Klinky]

So, when the logging industry went to Canada, it's because they allow slave labor?

Partially the desire to offshore those things to foreign countries where it's "cheaper" to manufacture, so our rich overlords can get richer. The US is uncompetitive because we don't allow slave labor... Yet...

Also the lumber industry looks to be a complex beast. The Canadian lumber industry appears to be subsidized by the Canoodlian Government. Also looks like they've lost 20k jobs between 2000 - 2009. So I dunno if it's healthy, but they do seem to be big at exporting their goods. China is a big consumer of lumber & I bet a lot of that stuff gets shipped back to the US as cheap consumer goods. Also it looks like Russia is the leading lumber exporter, so most people have to follow the leader. Russia doesn't have the best track record for human or worker rights...

 

[Denny Crane]

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-...s-await-signal-of-better-times-peter-coy.html

Skills Atrophy

When people are out of work for extended periods, their skills atrophy, their contacts in the working world dry up, and their chances of reemployment diminish. Forty-six percent of the unemployed have been out of work for half a year or more, more than triple the usual proportion.

 

[DaLincolnJones]

thought it ironic that the discussion in here also ran on the edge of obummer needing better advice.

President Obama kicked off his second year in office by announcing a new advisory council for jobs. It was going to be comprised of the top names in business and bring innovation and competitiveness back to the U.S jobs market.

Well, less than five months later, the results are less than stellar as evidenced in today's dismal jobs report. There could be a very good reason why this panel isn't living up to the hype.

A majority of the major corporations represented are not practicing what they preach—starting with the top dog GE CEO Jeffrey Immelt. This is the man tapped to lead the new era of job creation in this country. In just one decade, GE went from employing 313,000 people—168,000 in this country—to having only 134,000 American workers.

General Electric often stood at the top of Fortune's Most Admired list, but not since 2007 has it reached number one.
Also on the list, Xerox CEO Ursula Burns. Last year her company laid off 2,500 workers, and more are expected in their western New York center.

President Obama is also seeking advice from the American Express CEO. The same month the council was formed, the credit card company announced plans to close a customer service center in North Carolina - cutting 1,500 jobs. That's after 4,000 layoffs in 2009 and 7,000 in 2008.

DuPont CEO Ellen Kullman had to hand out 4,500 pink slips in just the first year of her tenure. The third-biggest chemical maker in the U.S. eliminated more than 14,000 employees during the recession.
Just today, Boeing - whose CEO James McNerney is also on the council - told more than 500 employees they were being let go.

Intel's CEO Paul Otellini, often ranked as the highest paid CEO during his tenure, has reduced his staff from 104,000 to less than 83,000.

Eastman Kodak employs less than 19,000 people, which is down 20% in two years.
This one is a personal favorite - President Obama is getting advice from Citigroup Chairman Richard Parsons. This is a company that, during the recession, laid off more than 50,000 employees and took $45 billion in taxpayer money just to survive.

Related Links
Subprime Programs in College?
The High Cost of Public Education
Washington Misusing Taxpayer Dollars is Nothing New
Housing: Planning for the FutureThis is just a sampling of the kind of people who have the president's ear. Is it no wonder we're stuck on stupid?

We're not making headway with the jobs crisis, because the people telling the White House what to do don't have the answers either.



Read more: http://www.foxbusiness.com/personal...a-needs-better-counsel-on-jobs/#ixzz1OM2o9Hrt

 

[BrianFromWA]

to be fair, the Boeing ones were Space Shuttle jobs. Those would've been lost 5 years ago, and only b/c the shuttle was extended were those jobs "saved or created." Last flight was a few days ago, ergo, no need for space shuttle support jobs.

 

[BLAZER PROPHET]

That's tremendous news. We hired a couple of analysts in the past few months and we couldn't believe the resumes we were receiving. Overqualified doesn't begin to describe what arrived at our doorstep.

We just hired a claims rep and we got dozens of terrible resumes.

Also, my two step sons recently graduated college and there are few jobs for them. With so few openings, employers can easily ask for, and get, grossly over qualified people for entry paid work.

 

[barfo]

This is just a sampling of the kind of people who have the president's ear. Is it no wonder we're stuck on stupid?

We're not making headway with the jobs crisis, because the people telling the White House what to do don't have the answers either.

Ok. So government doesn't have the answers. Private enterprise doesn't have the answers. Who do you think does have the answers? Internet posters?

barfo

 

[Denny Crane]

Ok. So government doesn't have the answers. Private enterprise doesn't have the answers. Who do you think does have the answers? Internet posters?

barfo

Yes.

 

[PapaG]

Yikes

It would be much worse without Obama, though! :MARIS61:

 

[PapaG]

We're going on nearly 2 years of no job growth, let alone trying to recover the peak UE rate of mid-2007.

Is this the "new normal", is massive government spending, coupled with QE 1 and 2 actually inhibiting growth in the private sector, or is massive government spending and the QEs) keeping us from a complete crash?

History says it's the second position. Ordinarily, a goat could beat a sitting President with this lack of success in his first term, but I'm not sure there is a GOP candidate who can actually inspire voters to vote for them, and not just against Obama.

 

[Klinky]

We're going on nearly 2 years of no job growth, let alone trying to recover the peak UE rate of mid-2007.

Is this the "new normal", is massive government spending, coupled with QE 1 and 2 actually inhibiting growth in the private sector, or is massive government spending and the QEs) keeping us from a complete crash?

I think this may be the new normal. What has driven economic prosperity over the last 15 years? Bubbles. Dot com, Worldcom, Enron, Housing. Where is legit steady growth going to come from? Legit steady growth is going to be slow, probably slower than a lot of people would like... If we get growth at all though.

 

[PapaG]

I think this may be the new normal. What has driven economic prosperity over the last 15 years? Bubbles. Dot com, Worldcom, Enron, Housing. Where is legit steady growth going to come from? Legit steady growth is going to be slow, probably slower than a lot of people would like... If we get growth at all though.

Why has no other recession led to such a sustained drop in employment? I'm not talking about GDP; I'm talking about actual employment. Plus, the dot.bust started in 2000, and even after 9/11/11, umployment went back to its peak level within 2 years.

 

[barfo]

Something interesting about that graph - the last 4 recessions, going back 30 years, have each lasted longer than all the previous recessions.

If that is an indicator of something that has fundamentally changed about the economy, rather than a statistical aberration, then it should be no surprise that the recovery from this very deep recession is also very slow.

barfo

 

[Klinky]

Why has no other recession led to such a sustained drop in employment?

Because this is more like a mini-depression than a recession & it probably would have been a depression that rivaled The Great Depression if all the world governments didn't pump money into their bank systems. That's important, this isn't a recession that only affected the US, every major economic power was hit by this.

I'm not talking about GDP; I'm talking about actual employment.

I was talking about "job growth" or "economic growth", obviously the job market & economy has "contracted" from when we had prosperous times.

Plus, the dot.bust started in 2000, and even after 9/11/11, umployment went back to its peak level within 2 years.

Your chart shows that it took about 3.5 - 3.8 years to get back to where it started. The only reason it got there was because of a new and exciting growth sector that emerged at the time. One that had unlimited growth potential, it was called the "housing market circa mid-2000s". Which is why we're living the high life now.