Free Republic

LI jobs rate shows gains BY JAMES BERNSTEIN STAFF WRITER March 3, 2004, 5:50 PM EST Job growth on Long Island showed sharp gains in the 12 months ending in January, with the economy adding 11,300 new positions -- the strongest surge in three years, data released Wednesday by the state Labor Department said. The local economy showed strong gains in retailing, education and health services, and business and financial services, the Labor Department figures showed. Business and financial services had been a drag on the regional economy in the past.

NEW YORK, March 1 (Reuters) - Stocks jumped on Monday, hitting session highs in late afternoon, after manufacturing data hinted that a turnaround in hiring may be on the horizon and raised investors' expectations for Friday's crucial jobs report for February. By late afternoon, the Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> was up 102 points, or 0.96 percent, at 10,685. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.SPX> was up 12 points, or 1.02 percent, at 1,157. The technology-laced Nasdaq Composite Index <.IXIC> was up 23 points, or 1.12 percent, at 2,053.

<p>U.S. employers added more jobs in February than in any month since late 2000, and manufacturing expanded for a 10th straight month, economists forecast a pair of reports may show next week.</p> <p>Payroll employment may have increased by 125,000 this month after adding 112,000 jobs in January, based on the median estimate in a Bloomberg News survey before Friday's Labor Department report. The economy last created so many jobs in November 2000. The unemployment rate may have held at a two-year low of 5.6 percent, the survey found.</p>

Since January 2001, a three-year period during which the economy has experienced one year of recession and two years of recovery, the U.S. economy has lost 2.6 percent of its private-sector jobs. These losses are not evenly distributed. Construction employment has declined by only 0.1 percent, and employment in oil and gas extraction by 0.7 percent. Employment declines in manufacturing and knowledge jobs, however, have been dramatic. Tables prepared by Charles McMillion of MBG Information Services from government data show employment in primary metals down 24 percent; machinery 21.6 percent; computer and peripheral equipment 28 percent; communications equipment 38.8 percent;...

WASHINGTON - America's economy, bolstered by brisk business spending, grew at a healthy 4.1 percent annual rate in the final quarter of 2003. That was even faster than first thought and offered new evidence that the nation's economic recovery was firmly rooted going into the new year. The latest reading on the gross domestic product — the broadest measure of the economy's health — was slightly better than the 4 percent pace estimated a month ago for the October-to-December quarter, the Commerce Department (news - web sites) reported Friday. GDP (news - web sites) measures the value of all goods...

<p>U.S. Initial Jobless Claims Fell to 344,000 Last Week (Update1) Feb. 19 (Bloomberg) -- The number of Americans filing initial unemployment claims fell last week to 344,000, close to a three- year low and a sign of halting improvement in the job market.</p>

<p>WASHINGTON — The number of people filing new claims for unemployment benefits fell sharply last week, offering hope that companies may be feeling better about business conditions and less inclined to hand out pink slips.</p> <p>The Labor Department (search) reported Thursday that for the work week ending Feb. 14, new applications filed for jobless benefits plunged by a seasonally adjusted 24,000 to 344,000. It marked the largest decline since the beginning of November and left claims at their lowest level since the week ending Jan. 24.</p>

Dismal Black Unemployment Stats Masked by Media Glow By Bill Alexander, BET.com Staff Writer Posted January 20, 2004 — In a classic example of racial disconnect, the bulk of glowing media reports on October's job growth and minuscule unemployment drop mask the alarming jobless statistics in the African American community. While the Bush administration crows that the national employment rate blipped downward from 6.1 percent in September to 6 percent last month, the latest U.S. Department of Labor stats also show that the Black adult unemployment rate has climbed to 11.5 percent and the Black teen-ager unemployment rate has gone...

RICHLAND, Wash. - Treasury Secretary John Snow distanced himself Tuesday from the Bush administration's official prediction that the nation will add 2.6 million jobs by year's end. That prediction, far more optimistic than that of many private-sector forecasters, was part of the annual economic report released last week by the White House Council of Economic Advisers and was immediately echoed by Bush. But on a tour through Washington state and Oregon to promote the president's economic agenda, Snow and Commerce Secretary Donald Evans both declined to endorse the White House prediction.

Jobs .. and the economy. Those seem to be the issues that are driving many, if not most, of those who are supporting the Kerry candidacy. First of all ... I'm going to repeat this simply because it makes the whiners so unbelievably angry. Listen up. They're not your jobs! The jobs belong to the employers .. not to you! You have job skills and, presumably, a willingness to work. Your task in a free economy is to get out there and find some employer with a job who needs your skills ... and strike a deal. If you do...

<p>Frances Bernadette Parker was 52 years old and had climbed through the ranks of Procter & Gamble Co.'s research operations. Then in the summer of 2002, she had a life-altering decision to make: Leave the company with a buyout package or keep working and end up with more responsibility but not more pay.</p>

<p>For struggling workers like Keith Burnham, it's not just the quantity of jobs that aren't there -- it's the quality of those that are.</p> <p>And so far in this economic recovery, the new ones sure don't pay like the old ones.</p>

A decade ago, Roger Labunski assumed he would continue pulling in $100,000 or better each year. Lately he has been lowering his sights — a lot. He has been out of work for 18 months. He gave up his home in a divorce, sold many possessions, borrowed money from relatives and still ended up filing for bankruptcy. He now lives in a rental loft near Decatur. "I have given up on a full-time job," Labunski said. "I have to reinvent myself." In the past three years, unemployment has jumped from 5.7 million to 8.3 million. Some jobless people, especially during hard times, go...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. economy should shed its jobless label this year with the creation of about 2.6 million new positions, the White House forecast on Monday. If realized, the jobs turnaround could help President Bush (news - web sites)'s re-election prospects. Bush has faced withering fire from Democrats over the lack of new jobs. In the annual Economic Report of the President, the White House said the number of workers on U.S. non-farm payrolls was likely to rise to an average to 132.7 million this year from a 2003 average it thought would come in at 130.1 million....

NECHE, N.D. - "I'd go back to working at MCI for five bucks an hour if I could keep the benefits. We have a big pile of doctor bills, and the bill collectors call us every day. We can't pay them because we don't have the money, and they don't understand." Roger Wagner,former MCI employee. After working nearly nine years each at Motor Coach Industries, Debbie and Roger Wagner never dreamed layoffs would cut as deep as their seniority. But they did last summer, as the married couple lost their jobs at the bus manufacturing plant in Pembina, N.D., 15...

John Preussner gets paid more as an independent information-technology consultant than he did working at a full-time job. He has a flexible schedule and gets to meet new people all the time. There's never a dull moment, he said, and that's the problem. "It's sporadic. I'm always job hunting. There are a lot of people competing for those positions," said Preussner, 55, of Schaumburg, who added he'd rather be on a payroll. For Preussner and others who've turned to self-employment, the so-called jobless recovery feels more like one big non-stop hustle. Because businesses burned in the recession remain reluctant to...

<p>Total U.S. jobs rose by a disappointing 112,000 last month, the Labor Department reported Friday. It was the biggest payroll increase since December 2000 but was significantly below expectations and notably sluggish this far into a period of expansion.</p> <p>The increase was up sharply from the 16,000 rise posted for December. Moreover, the unemployment rate dipped 0.1 percentage point to 5.6 percent, its lowest level in two years.</p>

By LEIGH STROPE WASHINGTON (AP) - The nation's unemployment rate dropped to 5.6 percent in January to the lowest level in more than two years as companies added just 112,000 new jobs - fewer than expected but enough to keep alive hope for a turnaround in the struggling job market. The jobless rate fell 0.1 percentage point last month to the lowest level since October 2001, when it was 5.4 percent, the Labor Department said Friday. January's rate matched the 5.6 percent posted in January 2002. Employers added new jobs last month at a pace not seen in three years....

<p>NEW YORK (CNN/Money) – The job market may not be booming. But for many in the college class of 2004, it won't be quite as dismal as it was for last year's grads.</p> <p>That's the preliminary conclusion of the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE), which released its latest quarterly starting-salary survey on Thursday.</p>

Hudson Employment Index Up 5.4 Is Your Firm Hiring or Laying Off Workers? Hiring 31% Laying Off 16% RasmussenReports.com Worried About Losing Your Job? Yes 17% No 76% Not Sure 7% RasmussenReports.com   February 4, 2004--The Hudson Employment Index gained 5.4 points this month, signaling a more positive outlook on employment conditions.Thirty-one percent (31%) of workers say that their companies plan to hire more employees in the coming months, while 16% say their firms are laying people off. The net hiring figure (hiring minus laying off) advanced to +15% from +12% last month.Additionally, the number of workers worried about...