On the first Friday of each month the Labor Department releases the previous month’s unemployment numbers, and the issue of unemployment and joblessness gets attention from the news media. The National Jobs for All Coalition is urging groups and unemployed workers to hold news conferences, vigils and pickets at unemployment offices, and to take other… Read More Call for “First Friday” Actions
Special Report 6, July 2015 by June Zaccone, Assoc. Prof. of Economics (Emerita), Hofstra University and NJFAC Executive Committee. [lfpr for 25-54 updated, 5/16] Whenever a recession leads to dropouts from the measured labor force, as those who despair of finding work give up looking, commentators begin asking whether the decline in the labor force… Read More Is the Decline in the Labor Force Participation Rate During This Recession Permanent?
OFFICIAL UNEMPLOYMENT: 5.4%* White 4.7% African American 9.6% Hispanic 6.9% Asian** 4.4% Persons with a disability** 10.0% Men 20 years and over 5.0% Women 20 years and over 4.9% Teens (16-19 years) 17.1% Black teens 27.5% Officially unemployed 8.5 million from the U.S. BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS *If the… Read More Current Rate: April 2015 Unemployment Data
THE UNEMPLOYED SPEAK* 1. Jack was laid off after 17 years as a mechanic when his plant was relocated in Mexico. Unable to find a comparable job, Jack is working at Walmart at a fraction of his previous wage. Answer: Jack is a casualty of unemployment, but he is counted as employed, despite his downgrading.… Read More Can You Count the Unemployed? an NJFAC Quiz
New York Times, December 1, 2009 http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/01/us/01race.html …. …there is ample evidence that racial inequities remain when it comes to employment. …. College-educated black men, especially, have struggled relative to their white counterparts in this downturn, according to figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The unemployment rate for black male college graduates 25… Read More In Job Hunt, College Degree Can’t Close Racial Gap, Michael Luo, NY Times
