March job openings were the highest in almost four years, By Martin Crutsinger (AP), May 8, 2012, USA Today: “U.S. companies in March posted the highest number of job openings in nearly four years, a sign that hiring could strengthen after slowing this spring. The Labor Department said Tuesday that employers advertised 3.74 million job openings in March. That’s up from a revised 3.57 million in February. The March figure was the highest since July 2008, just before the financial crisis erupted. The increase in job openings suggests that weaker hiring gains in March and April could be temporary. It usually takes one to three months for employers to fill openings. Even with the increase, roughly 12.7 million people were unemployed in March. That means an average of 3.4 people competed for each open job. While that’s far better than the nearly 7-to-1 ratio when the recession ended, in a healthy job market, the ratio is around 2 to 1…”
Long-term unemployment affects nearly 30% of jobless Americans, By Tiffany Hsu, May 3, 2012, Los Angeles Times: “Nearly 30% of jobless Americans have been out of work for at least a year, according to the Pew Fiscal Analysis Initiative report on the first quarter. The report found that of the 13.3 million unemployed workers in the country, 3.9 million had been jobless for all or most of 2011. That’s more people than live in Oregon. That 29.5% long-term unemployment rate is slightly off the peak reached in the third quarter of last year, when 31.8% of jobless Americans were out of work for a year. But the current rate is still more than triple the 9.5% from the beginning of the recession…”
For the chronically unemployed in Calif., another blow ahead as federal benefits come to end, By Tracie Cone (AP), May 2, 2012, Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune: “With her anti-poverty budget stretched beyond its limits, Brenda Callahan-Johnson is braced for next Saturday: the day California’s chronically unemployed will be cut off from the nation’s jobless benefits. A drop in the state’s unemployment rate to 11 percent – its lowest mark in three years – is triggering the federal cutoff of emergency, long-term unemployment pay to at least 93,000 Californians. But in the state’s agricultural heartland, where Callahan-Johnson runs the Merced County Community Action Agency, a jobless rate of more than 20 percent – two and a half times the nationwide average of 8.2 percent – makes it difficult for some to believe an economic recovery has begun…”
New jobs slow; unemployment drops as work force shrinks, By Catherine Rampell, May 4, 2012, New York Times: “The United States had another month of disappointing job growth in April. The nation’s employers produced a net gain of 115,000 positions, after adding 154,000 in March, the Labor Department said Friday. April’s job growth was less than economists had been predicting. The unemployment rate, which is based on a separate survey of American households, ticked down to 8.1 percent in April, from 8.2 percent. That may sound like good news, but the decline was not because more unemployed workers were hired; it was entirely because 342,000 workers dropped out of the labor force…”
Economy added 115,000 jobs in April; unemployment rate fell to 8.1 percent, By Peter Whoriskey, May 4, 2012, Washington Post: “The unemployment rate dropped a notch to 8.1 percent in April, the Labor Department reported on Friday, but the pace of job growth has fallen off, amid other signs that the economic recovery may be losing momentum. The economy added 115,000 payroll jobs last month, a meager showing compared with earlier this year when the jobs tally was rising at twice that rate and sowing optimism about the nation’s economic prospects. Some of the most quoted figures from the jobs report suggested good news. The unemployment rate dropped to 8.1 percent in April from 8.2 percent the month before, and the number of unemployed people declined to 12.5 million from 12.7 million. But the main reason for the decline in the ranks of unemployed is that many people decided to stop looking for work. People who have given up the job hunt are no longer counted as unemployed…”
Unemployment reaches record high in euro zone, By Jack Ewing, May 2, 2012, New York Times: “Unemployment in the euro zone rose to a new high in March, according to figures released on Wednesday, which came a few days before crucial elections in France and Greece, and which are likely to intensify calls for an easing of the region’s austerity drive. Unemployment in the 17 countries that belong to the euro zone rose to 10.9 percent in March from 10.8 percent in February, according to Eurostat, the European Union’s statistics agency. In March 2011, the rate was 9.9 percent, a number that illustrates the deterioration of the area’s economy during the past year. The monthly increase, the 11th in a row, translates into more than 17 million jobless people, and is in line with other recent indicators showing that the euro zone economy remains distressed. Manufacturing in the zone hit a 34-month low in April, according to a survey of purchasing managers released Wednesday by the research firm Markit…”
Eurozone unemployment hits record high of 10.9 percent as recession, austerity bite, Associated Press, May 2, 2012, Washington Post: “The 17 countries that use the euro are facing the highest unemployment rates in the history of the currency as recession once again spreads across Europe, pressuring leaders to focus less on austerity and more on stimulating growth. Unemployment in the eurozone rose by 169,000 in March, official figures showed Wednesday, taking the rate up to 10.9 percent – its highest level since the euro was launched in 1999. The seasonally adjusted rate was up from 10.8 percent in February and 9.9 percent a year ago and contrasts sharply with the picture in the U.S., where unemployment has fallen from 9.1 percent in August to 8.2 percent in March. Spain had the highest rate in the eurozone, 24.1 percent – and an alarming 51.1 percent for people under 25…”
Unemployment benefits vary across the 17-country eurozone, Associated Press, May 2, 2012, Washington Post: “Unemployment benefits across the 17-country eurozone, where joblessness has hit a new record of 10.9 percent, vary considerably. In some countries, welfare payments have been cut recently as part of austerity measures introduced to bring government spending under control. In Spain, where almost a quarter of the adult population is without work, an unemployed person gets 70 percent of his or her monthly wage for as much as two years. That is on the high end for Europe, and highlights the continent’s focus on social safety nets. Monthly wages, however, are relatively low at an average of just over €1,000 ($1,300) a month. Also, the Spanish government has held off cutting jobless benefits in this year’s austerity budget to avoid hurting economic growth and to not heap more misery on the country’s 5.6 million unemployed, many of which own homes whose value has plummeted…”
