 UPDATED March 11, 2010
The number of new applications for Unemployment Insurance dropped to 462,000 by 6,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 468,000, in the week ending 6 March 2010, the US Department of Labor reported today.
The 4-week moving average was 475,500, an increase of 5,000 from the previous week's revised average of 470,500.
Insured unemployment ending the week February 27 increased from the adjusted preceding week of 4,521,000 by 37,000 to 4,558,000. The 4 week moving steadied at 4,581,000, no change from the preceding week's revised average of 4,581,000.
States reported 5,527,925 persons claiming EUC (Emergency Unemployment Compensation) benefits for the week ending February 20, an decrease of 159,649 from the prior week.
Click here for a larger graph of unemployment claims.
Nine Jobseekers For Every Job
WASHNGTON 9 March, 2010 There were 2.7 million job openings on the last business day of January 2010, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Last Friday's jobs report showed 14.7 million out of work. Thats 5.4 unemployed people for each job. There are another 8.7 million with part time jobs that want fulltime work. Thats nearly 8.7 unemployed people for every open job.
As usual the dry and beaurocratese of the BLS report belies the the real pain and suffering resulting from the worst recession since the great depression of the 30's and totally ignored by the likes of Kyl, Bunning and Delay.
There were 2.7 million job openings on the last business day of January 2010, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported ... The job openings rate rose over the month to 2.1 percent, the highest therate has been since February 2009. The hires rate (3.1 percent) and the separations rate (3.2 percent) were unchanged in January. This release includes estimates of the number and rate of job openings, hires, and separations for the total nonfarm sector by industry andgeographic region. This release also includes annual estimates forhires and separations. The annual totals for hires and quits decreased in 2009 while the annual total for layoffs and discharges increased.
 March 5, 2010 The number of people age 55-plus without a job grew from 490,000 at the start of the decade to 2.1 million last December, according to an AARP analysis of government data on older workers released Thursday.
To make matters worse for boomers and other older adults, the amount of time it took to find work was devastating—35 weeks in December 2009 compared with 19 weeks in January 2000. In February 41% of all unemployed workers had been out of work 26 weeks or more according to this morning's employment status report from the BLS.
“Things were very different at the end of the decade than at the beginning,” says Sara Rix, a strategic adviser at AARP who conducted the analysis. But even though 2009 was “a really bad year,” she says, more older people are in the workforce today, a trend that she says will continue because of an aging population.
Workers age 65-plus flooded the labor market over the decade. In January 2000, only 13 percent of workers were 65 and older. In December 2009, their numbers grew to 17 percent. By contrast, the labor force participation rates for those age 16 and older fell from 67 percent to just under 65 percent.
Though workers 65-plus found it easier to find work, they also wound up on the firing line. Some 479,000 were out of work last December, a huge increase from the 143,000 jobless workers in January 2000. Likewise, the unemployment rate among that age group shot up to 7.2 percent last December from 3.4 percent in January 2000.
Workers age 16 and older also saw their jobless rate jump from 4 percent at the start of the decade to 10 percent in December.
“The last decade has spelled disaster for millions of older workers who have lost their jobs, seen their retirement savings diminish and had their health care costs continue to skyrocket,” says Nancy A. LeaMond, AARP executive vice president. “The recession has only made this bad situation worse, as the statistics show clearly that older workers who lose their jobs stay unemployed longer than other groups.”
Job losses from the start of the recession are by far the worst since WWII in percentage terms. Employment peaked in December 2007. The depth and potentially the length of significant unemployment is illustrated in the graph below from calculatedriskblog.com.
 March 5, 2010 The February U-6 unemployment rate rose to 16.8%, an increase of point 3 percentage points, the government reported today.
Long term unemployment, defined to be 27 weeks or more out of work steadied at about 6.1 million, or 41% of unemployed(U3) people.
Also there were 1,200,000 discouraged workers in February, up from 473,000 a year earlier. Discouraged workers are persons not currently looking for work because they believe no jobs are available for them.
The more commonly quoted U-3 was unchanged at 9.7 percent. The number of unemployed persons unchange at 14.9 million and 36,000 jobs were lost in February.
Earnings Rise Slightly for the Non-Ceo Employment Sector in January, Down Over the Last 12 Months
 February 19, 2020 Real average hourly earnings fell 0.9 percent, seasonally adjusted, from January 2009 to January 2010. The change in real average hourly earnings combined with an unchanged work week resulted in a 0.9 percent decrease in real average weekly earnings during this period.
Real average weekly earnings grew 0.3 percent over the month, as a result of a 0.3 percent increase in the average work week and no change in real average hourly earnings.
Real average hourly earnings stayed flat from December to January, seasonally adjusted. A 0.2 percent increase in the Consumer Price Index offset a 0.2 percent increase in average hourly earnings.
Click for a larger graph.
Source: US Department of Labor
UPDATED February 5, 2010 As many as 1.5 million jobless Americans will exhaust their unemployment insurance benefits this coming March, according to projections by the National Employment Law Project, a private research group. By June, this number will swell to nearly 5 million unemployed workers nationally who will be left without any jobless benefits.
"Congress must swiftly act to maintain the lifeline for millions of jobless Americans caught in the undertow of record long-term unemployment in this ongoing downturn," said Christine Owens, Executive Director of the National Employment Law Project. "At the end of last year, Congress wisely agreed that our hardest hit workers and our economy were not yet out of the woods, and reauthorized the jobless benefits and health care subsidies from the ARRA. It is critical for Congress to renew these unemployment provisions through the end of the year before its Presidents Day recess for the millions workers again facing the end of the line— and to avoid missing the boat on this timely and effective economic jolt."
After a two-month reauthorization in December (the house added a ARRA reauthorization amendment to the Defence Appropriations bill), the critical benefits provided to jobless workers by the ARRA are set to expire at the end of February. In December, the House passed a $154 billon jobs bill, including an extension of the ARRA unemployment provisions; the Senate has yet to propose a jobs bill.
NELP's state-by-state analysis demonstrates the pressing need for another extension of the ARRA provisions that would fund additional benefits payments under the EUC.
Click here for the status of state by state eligibility for extended benefits.
HELP NELP by emailing your congressperson. Start here.
What do you think? How are you faring on unemployment benefits?
 February 2, 2010 Unemployment rates were higher in October than a year earlier in all 372 metropolitan areas except one, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported today.
- Nineteen areas recorded jobless rates of at least 15.0 percent,
- ten areas registered rates below 5.0 percent,
- 356 areas reported over-the-year increases in nonfarm payroll unemployment,
- 12 reported decreases,
- 138 metropolitan areas reported jobless rates of at least 10.0 percent, up from 42 areas a year earlier,
- 68 areas posted rates below 7.0 percent, down from 205 areas in December 2008,
- 19 areas with jobless rates of at least 15.0 percent, 12 were located in California and 3 were in Michigan.
El Centro, Calif., continued to record the highest unemployment rate, 27.7 percent. Merced, Calif., registered the next highest rate, 19.8 percent. Overall, 146 areas recorded unemployment rates above the U.S. figure of 9.7 percent (non seasonally adjusted), and 221 areas reported rates below it.
Click here for a larger picture of the Unemployment Rate Map.
Click here for a pdf of the complete and detailed BLS METROPOLITAN AREA EMPLOYMENT AND UNEMPLOYMENT report.
What is the situation in your town?
Oh which was the lucky metro area? Answer: Hinesville GA was the lucky metro with a drop of 0.5% in unemployment.
Jobless Rate* Increases Across 43 States in December
 Forty-three states and the District of Columbia recorded over-the-month unemployment rate increases, four states registered rate decreases, and three states had no rate change,* the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Over the year, jobless rates increased in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.
Twenty-one states reported statistically significant over-the-month unemployment rate increases in December. Louisiana and Mississippi experienced the largest of these (+0.8 percentage point each). The national unemployment rate dropped to 10.0 percent in December.
 December 17, 2009 The number of new applications for Unemployment Insurance rose to 480,000 by 7,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 473,000 in the week ending 12 December according to the US Department of Labor.
The 4-week moving average was 467,500, a decrease of 5,250 from the previous week's revised average of 472,750.
Insured unemployment ending the week December 5 declined slightly by 5,000+ from the adjusted preceding week of 5,181,000 to 5,186,000. The 4 week moving average continued to decline, dropping to 5,318,250, a decrease of 106,750 from the preceding week's revised average of 5,425,000.
However persons claiming EUC (Emergency Unemployment Compensation) extended benefits increased by 45,922 during the week ending Nov. 28, from the prior week to 4,266,300 or 82% of all those on UI benefits.
Click here for a larger graph of unemployment claims.
 December 10, 2009 The number of new applications for Unemployment Insurance leapt to 474,000 by 17,000 from the previous week's unrevised figure of 457,000 in the week ending 5 December according to the US Department of Labor.
The 4-week moving average was 473,750, a decrease of 7,750 from the previous week's revised average of 481,500.
Insured unemployment ending the week November 28 plummeted by 303,000+ from the adjusted preceding week of 5,460,000 to 5,157,000. The 4 week moving average continued to decline, dropping to 5,416,500, a decrease of 123,500 from the preceding week's revised average of 5,540,000.
However persons claiming EUC (Emergency Unemployment Compensation) extended benefits increased by 327,729 during the week ending Nov. 21, from the prior week to 4,178,780 or 81% of all those on UI benefits.
Click here for a larger graph of unemployment claims.
 December 4, 2009 The government reported today that only 11,000 jobs were lost in November, the fewest lost since the start of the recession.
Long term unemployment, defined to be 27 weeks or longer out of work, increased to a total 5.9 million, 38.3% or over 1 in 3 unemployed people. This is 3.8% of the total labor force—far surpassing the previous peak of 2.6% set in June 1983.
The number of unemployed persons declined slightly by 463,000 to 15.4 million. The November U-6 unemployment rate was 17.2%, a small decline from October by a third of a percentage point.
The more commonly quoted U-3 unemployment rate was 10.0 percent, declining by two tenths of a percentage point from October.
 December, 2009 Insured unemployment ending the week November 21 increased by 28,000+ from the adjusted preceding week of 5,437,000 to 5,465,000. The 4 week moving average continued to decline, dropping to 5,541,500, a decrease of 75,750 from the preceding week's revised average of 5,617,250.
The number of new applications for Unemployment Insurance was steady at 457,000, dropping 5,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 462,000 in the week ending 28 November according to the US Department of Labor .
The 4-week moving average was 481,250, a decrease of 14,250 from the previous week's revised average of 495,500.
Click here for a larger graph of unemployment claims.
 November 25, 2009 The number of new applications for Unemployment Insurance tumbled to 466,000, dropping to below half a million for the first time since January according to the US Department of Labor .
The 4-week moving average was 496,500, a decrease of 35,000 from the previous week's revised average of 513,000.
Insured unemployment ending the week November 14 decreased by 190,000+ from the adjusted preceding week of 5,613,000 to 5,423,000. The 4 week moving average continued to decline, dropping to 5,613,750, a decrease of 98,500 from the preceding week's revised average of 5,712,250.
 November 19, 2009 The US Department of Labor said the number of people filing new applications for unemployment insurance in the week ending 14 November was unchanged from the revised previous week at 505,000. The 4-week moving average was 519,750, a decrease of 4,500 from the previous week's revised average of 524,250.
Insured unemployment ending the week November 7 decreased by 39,000+ from the adjusted preceding week of 5,650,000 to 5,611,000. The 4 week moving average continued to decline, dropping to 5,711,500, a decrease of 83,500 from the preceding week's revised average of 5,795,500.
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