- U.S. added 163,000 jobs in July; unemployment rate ticks up to 8.3 percent, By Peter Whoriskey, August 3, 2012, Washington Post: “The U.S. economy added more jobs in July, but the unemployment rate ticked up to 8.3 percent, the Labor Department reported. The monthly jobs figures released on Friday offered both good and bad news. On the one hand, payrolls expanded by 163,000 people, a promising rise after three straight months of disappointing job gains. Jobs in manufacturing rose by 25,000; there were 9,000 fewer jobs in government. “It would appear that the slow patch we’ve had since April is over,” Gus Faucher, senior macro economist at PNC Financial Services Group, said before the release of the numbers. . .”
- A Tale of 2 US Employment Surveys, at a Glance, By the Associated Press, August 3, 2012, ABC News: “The U.S. economy added 163,000 jobs in July. Yet the unemployment rate rose to 8.3 percent. Why didn’t the increase in jobs lower the unemployment rate? Because the government does one survey to learn how many jobs were created and another survey to determine the unemployment rate. Those surveys can produce results that sometimes seem to conflict. One is called the payroll survey. It asks mostly large companies and government agencies how many people they employed during the month. This survey produces the number of jobs gained or lost. In July, the payroll survey showed that companies added 172,000 jobs, and federal, state and local governments cut 9,000. . .”
Author: irpstaff
Cities Struggle with Cleaning Up Belongings of the Homeless
Dealing with possessions of homeless a big problem for cities, By Maria L. La Ganga and Alexandra Zavis, July 18, 2012, Los Angeles Times: “Everything in the warehouse mattered, at some point, to someone. A ceramic urn sprouting peacock feathers. A tool chest held together with duct tape. An oak table. A purple bike. Separated out from piles of trash during homeless encampment sweeps, the items were bagged, tagged and inventoried. In the seven weeks since San Jose started photographing and storing such belongings, no one has come to claim them. The city, faced with the specter of costly litigation, has embarked upon a difficult experiment — one that is playing out across California as fiscally strapped cities struggle to balance the health and safety of the general public with the property rights of growing ranks of homeless people. . .”
Safety Net Hospitals and Medicare Changes
Poorer hospitals may suffer from Medicare changes, By Genevra Pittman, July 16, 2012, Chicago Tribune: “Under upcoming changes in Medicare and Medicaid payment policies, hospitals largely treating the poor and uninsured may be hit extra hard if patients continue to rate their experiences there lower than at other hospitals, according to a new study. So-called safety-net hospitals take in a lot of patients on government insurance – which doesn’t pay as much for services as private insurance – or without any insurance at all, leaving them often under financial stress and struggling to stay open, researchers said. Under the Affordable Care Act, a small proportion of Medicare and Medicaid funding going to hospitals will be determined by performance measures, including how patients rate their experiences there. That’s not a bad idea in general, said Dr. Ashish Jha . . .”