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University of Wisconsin–Madison
Poverty-related issues in the news, from the Institute for Research on Poverty

US Unemployment Rate

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  • Jobs data highlight the challenges for Washington, By Catherine Rampell, November 5, 2010, New York Times: “Good, but not good enough. As President Obama said himself, that was the message in Friday’s Labor Department report, which showed that the United States economy added 151,000 jobs in October. It was certainly a welcome change after four months of job losses but not strong enough to make a dent in unemployment. Nearly 15 million people are still out of work, and the unemployment rate remains at 9.6 percent. The jobless rate has not fallen substantially this year largely because job growth has been barely fast enough to absorb new entrants to the labor force. And even if the economy suddenly ramps up and starts adding 208,000 jobs a month – the average during the best year of job creation this decade – it would take 12 years to fully close the gap between the growing number of American workers and the total number of jobs available, according to Brookings Institution’s Hamilton Project…”
  • Unemployment rate holds at 9.6%, but job market shows signs of life, By Don Lee, November 5, 2010, Los Angeles Times: “The nation’s sluggish job market showed signs of life in October: Employers added a net 151,000 jobs over the month, and private-sector job creation was the strongest since April, the Labor Department said Friday. However, the better-than-expected job gains weren’t large enough to bring down the unemployment rate, which remained stuck at 9.6% for the third month in a row. A broader measure of unemployment and underemployment, which includes part-time workers who can’t find full-time jobs, dropped a notch to 17% last month…”
  • Unemployment drops in 85% of metro areas in September, By Christopher S. Rugaber (AP), November 3, 2010, USA Today: “Unemployment fell in more than 85% of the nation’s largest metro areas in September, a sharp improvement from the previous month. The Labor Department said Wednesday that the jobless rate dropped in 321 of the country’s 372 metropolitan areas, while remaining the same in 20 and rising in 31. That compares to 230 metro areas that saw their rates fall in August and is the largest number of areas reporting improvement since April…”