- Unemployment rate drops to 7.7% as economy shrugs off Sandy, By Neil Irwin, December 7, 2012, Washington Post: “The unemployment rate dipped and job creation remained steady in November, as the U.S. economy shrugged off any major impact from Hurricane Sandy and showed surprising resilience in the run-up to the ‘fiscal cliff.’ The November jobs report, released Friday morning, was a pleasant surprise to analysts who had braced for some ugly numbers for a period during which much of the Northeast was reeling from the superstorm. In fact, the national unemployment rate fell to 7.7 percent from 7.9 percent, and the nation added 146,000 jobs, not the mere 85,000 that forecasters had expected…”
- A good jobs report might be bad for the jobless, By Marilyn Geewax, December 7, 2012, National Public Radio: “The Labor Department’s glad tidings Friday about the uptick in job creation last month might morph into bad news next month for many of the long-term unemployed. That’s because the boost in November hiring, with employers adding 146,000 jobs, might make it more difficult for Democrats to argue in favor of having Congress renew the extension of benefits for people out of work more than six months. As things stand, four in 10 Americans who receive unemployment insurance will lose their extended benefits if federal aid expires as scheduled on Dec. 29…”
Poverty-related issues in the news, from the Institute for Research on Poverty