Posts Tagged unemployment
The Great Recession Continues
Posted by Tetyana Matychak in Budget on January 27th, 2010
The December jobs report has doused the hope that we were at the beginning of a sustained economic recovery.
The unemployment rate managed to hold at 10% in December only because of an extraordinary shrinkage in the labor force: Some 661,000 gave up looking for a job.
Bureau of Labor Statistics’ (BLS) nonfarm payroll data indicate that December job losses totaled 85,000. But the bureau’s household survey, a better and more comprehensive measure of both the unemployed and underemployed, indicated a loss of 589,000 jobs. Since the Great Recession began in 2007, some 8.6 million jobs have been lost, according to the bureau; and small businesses, the normal source for new jobs, are still shedding workers. Fewer than 10% added employees, while more than 20% cut back—and the cuts averaged nearly twice as many per firm as the hires at the expanding companies.
Unemployment, in short, has graduated from being a difficulty, a worry. It is now a catastrophe, with some 15.3 million Americans out of work, according to the BLS. Read the rest of this entry »
Economy Should Continue Growing In 2010
Posted by Tetyana Matychak in Budget on January 21st, 2010
A number of forecasts show the economy should continue it’s momentum from the end of 2009 into the new year. A number of countries are also expected to show improvement, as the world recovers from the worst global recession in decades.
Rising consumer sentiments should see demand climb as spending levels recover somewhat. The Fed has maintained it’s stance on keeping interest rates near zero for an extended period of time which should also help the financial system to stabilize further.
However, the labor situation is still a major cause for concern even though unemployment flattened out last month, the upcoming jobs report on Friday could be a major indicator on far recovery efforts have really come. There are a number skeptics on whether unemployment has yet to bottom out, only a few months ago there were quite a few predictions that the unemployment rate could rise as high as 13% before job creation began again. Read the rest of this entry »
Economic survey: Job losses to bottom out in 1Q
Posted by Tetyana Matychak in Budget on November 27th, 2009
Economists expect the joblessness that has weighed down the nation’s economic recovery will start to slowly abate in 2010, but they predict consumers will continue to keep a tight rein on spending, according to a new survey.
While signs have pointed to the end of the recession, unemployment remains rampant. The national unemployment rate jumped to 10.2 percent in October, the highest in 26 years. About 9 million people currently receive unemployment benefits.
The November outlook by the National Association for Business Economics, which is set to be released Monday, shows economists expect net employment losses to bottom out in the first quarter of next year. Employers are seen starting to add to their payrolls after that.
“While the recovery has been jobless so far, that should soon change,”said Lynn Reaser, NABE’s president and chief economist at Point Loma Nazarene University.”Within the next few months, companies should be adding instead of cutting jobs.” Read the rest of this entry »
U.S. Stock Futures Rise After Jobless Claims Unexpectedly Drop
Posted by Tetyana Matychak in Fund Markets on September 24th, 2009
U.S. stock-index futures advanced after jobless claims unexpectedly decreased, bolstering speculation the economy is recovering.
Citigroup Inc., General Electric Co. and Apple Inc. climbed at least 1 percent after initial claims for unemployment benefits fell to 530,000 last week, 20,000 less than economists predicted. Red Hat Inc. rallied 9.4 percent as the biggest seller of the Linux operating system reported earnings that beat estimates and Bank of America Corp. recommended the shares.
“We’ve turned the corner,” said Tom Wirth, senior investment officer at Chemung Canal Trust Co., which manages $1.6 billion in Elmira, New York. “The latest economic reports are telling us that we might see revenue growth in the fourth quarter. On top of that, interest-rates are so low that stocks seem to be the only game to play.”
Futures on the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index expiring in December gained 0.4 percent to 1,063.5 at 8:46 a.m. in New York. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures added 35 points, or 0.4 percent, to 9,752. Nasdaq-100 Index futures increased 0.6 percent to 1,736.
The S&P 500 yesterday dropped from its highest level since October. A 57 percent rally since March 9 has left the measure valued at about 20 times the reported earnings of its companies, the most expensive level since 2004, according to weekly data compiled by Bloomberg. Read the rest of this entry »
How Much Should You Spend on a Job Hunt?
Posted by Tetyana Matychak in Budget on September 10th, 2009
Most career counselors advise unemployed job-seekers to get out there and make contacts — as the conventional wisdom goes, you’re more likely to find a new gig from a personal connection rather than an online job application.
But the cumulative costs of all the coffees, lunches, drinks and events can quickly add up, stressing already-tight budgets. It’s remarkably easy to spend hundreds, if not thousands of dollars on a job hunt, so job seekers should be clear on what makes a good investment in their future, and what’s really just discretionary spending in the guise of career-building.
Most of us want to put our best feet forward: nice restaurant, good outfit, travel across town if need be. The hopeful result of such networking is a job, permanent or even temporary. Job hunting has created a whole industry of high-price career fairs, networking events and web sites. And with the slow rate of hiring, the spending can go for months with no job offer.
So how much is appropriate to spend?
There’s no single formula or amount for everyone, says Lauren Locker, a certified financial planner with Locker Financial Services, LLC, in Little Falls, N.J. Things that figure into the calculus: Are you single or supporting a family? Are you interviewing for a six-figure executive position or something entry-level? What are your laid-off cash reserves looking like? How long have you been unemployed? The answers to these questions will vary, but Ms. Locker says that regardless of your station, it’s good to err on the frugal side. Read the rest of this entry »
Jobless claims show labor market may slow recovery
Posted by Tetyana Matychak in Budget on September 7th, 2009
New claims for jobless aid fell less than expected last week, and the number of people continuing to receive unemployment benefits rose - further signs that any economic recovery will be hindered by a weak job market and flat incomes.
Most economists think the recession is over, but they say the jobless rate will keep rising until at least next summer as the economy struggles to mount a sustained recovery. That means household incomes will remain depressed and consumer spending, which accounts for 70 percent of the economy, will continue to lag.
“Firms are still not hiring, and that reflects deep pessimism about the sustainability of the economic recovery once government stimulus programs wear off,”said Sal Guatieri, senior economist at BMO Capital Markets.”The lack of job creation remains a big headwind for cash-starved and credit-constrained consumers.”
The nation’s major retailers on Thursday reported lackluster results from August back-to-school sales. Results in established stores fell 2.1 percent in August compared with the same month last year, a compilation of 31 retailers’ results by the International Council of Shopping Centers and Goldman Sachs indicated. Some major discounters managed to exceed expectations. Read the rest of this entry »
Stocks Retreat Before U.S. Jobs Report as Yen, Dollar Advance
Posted by Tetyana Matychak in Currency, Favourites on July 2nd, 2009
European stocks and U.S. index futures fell while the yen and the dollar rose on speculation a report today will show that America’s unemployment rate climbed to the highest level since 1983.
The MSCI World Index of 23 developed countries slipped 0.6 percent at 9:21 a.m. in London, while Standard & Poor’s 500 Index futures slipped 0.5 percent. The yen and the dollar strengthened 0.3 percent against the euro.
The U.S. jobless rate may have risen to 9.6 percent last month, economists surveyed by Bloomberg News said before today’s Labor Department report. That increase would suggest the $12.8 trillion pledged by the U.S. government and the Federal Reserve is doing little to shore up the labor market. The European Central Bank probably will keep borrowing costs at a record low to battle the recession, while Sweden’s Riksbank unexpectedly cut its benchmark rate to 0.25 percent today.
“People have become a little bit too optimistic,” Philippe Gijsels, a senior structured equity strategist at Fortis Global Markets in Brussels told Bloomberg Television. “People will be disappointed. Gradually over the summer and into the autumn we will move lower,” he said. Read the rest of this entry »
Euro-Zone Unemployment Rate Hits 10-Year High
Posted by Tetyana Matychak in Budget, Currency on July 1st, 2009
The unemployment rate in the 16 countries that use the euro rose more than expected and to the highest level for a decade in May as more companies laid off staff in a bid to survive the deepest recession since World War II, official data showed.
The euro-zone jobless rate rose to 9.5% in May from an upwardly revised 9.3% in April, the highest level since May 1999 and 2.1 percentage points higher than in May last year, the European Union’s Eurostat statistics agency said.
The increase was stronger than the market consensus estimate of a rise to 9.4% from a Dow Jones Newswires survey of economists last week. April’s jobless rate was also revised up from 9.2% reported last month.
Eurostat said 273,000 people joined unemployment queues across the euro zone in May, bringing the total number of jobless to 15 million, more than the entire populations of Austria and Ireland combined.
The rise in the number of people out of work darkens the outlook for consumer spending and suggests it may take longer for the region to recover from recession. Read the rest of this entry »
U.S. Home Prices to Fall 14% More Before Bottoming
Posted by Tetyana Matychak in Budget, Favourites on June 22nd, 2009
U.S. home prices may fall another 14 percent, led by the New York and Orange County, California, metropolitan areas, before reaching a bottom as an increase in unemployment offsets lower prices, Deutsche Bank AG said.
“Affordability is no longer the driving issue in the housing market, and we believe prices still have a ways to fall in many areas before home prices reach their trough,” Deutsche Bank analysts led by Karen Weaver, wrote in a report yesterday. “The bottom is getting closer, but we are not there yet.”
Home prices are forecast to fall 41.7 percent from their peak, Weaver said. That’s higher than a forecast she released in March and reflects “the actual declines to date and the expected future impact on home prices from rising foreclosure inventory and unemployment.”
In March, Deutsche Bank had forecast a 16.5 percent decline in “current-to-trough” prices. While today’s projection is less than that, many metropolitan areas will still see steep declines, the report said.
In the New York metropolitan area they may drop 40.6 percent from the first quarter to the bottom, the report said, less than Deutsche Bank’s March estimate of 47.4 percent. Read the rest of this entry »
-
Stocks May Surprise By Year-End
5 July 2010
Is A Global Reserve Currency A Necessity?
28 June 2010
Deflation Comes To Europe
11 June 2010
Commodity-Linked Currencies Suffer Huge Losses
7 June 2010
Recent Comments