ST. LOUIS — After a career as a corporate executive with her name in brass on the office door, Amparo Kollman-Moore, an immigrant from Colombia, likes to drive a Jaguar and shop at Saks. “It was a good life,” she said, “a really good ride.”
As a member of this city’s economic elite, Ms. Kollman-Moore is not unusual among immigrants who live in St. Louis. According to a new analysis of census data, more than half of the working immigrants in this metropolitan area hold higher-paying white-collar jobs — as professionals, technicians or administrators — rather than lower-paying blue-collar and service jobs.
Among American cities, St. Louis is not an exception, the data show. In 14 of the 25 largest metropolitan areas, including Boston, New York and San Francisco, more immigrants are employed in white-collar occupations than in lower-wage work like construction, manufacturing or cleaning.
The data belie a common perception in the nation’s hard-fought debate over immigration — articulated by lawmakers, pundits and advocates on all sides of the issue — that the surge in immigration in the last two decades has overwhelmed the United States with low-wage foreign laborers.
Over all, the analysis showed, the 25 million immigrants who live in the country’s largest metropolitan areas (about two-thirds of all immigrants in the country) are nearly evenly distributed across the job and income spectrum.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/16/us/16skilled.html
Showing posts with label Unemployment. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Unemployment. Show all posts
Monday, April 19, 2010
Monday, April 12, 2010
Sunday, April 11, 2010
Criminals Prey on The Unemployed
Out of work for six months, Mary Long spent hours each day surfing the Web. She found a job listing this fall for a logistics manager that paid $65,000 a year and fired off her resume.But the company, Advanta Transportation Network LLC, appears to be part of an increasingly common scam that has snared Ms. Long and many others, according to cybercrime experts. As U.S. job seekers grow more desperate, criminals are using the Internet to con participants into so-called mule operations.These operations generally follow a formula, say security experts: Cybercriminals post an ad on a job board. Successful job applicants are "hired" or asked to complete a trial project. Scam operators wire stolen money to the applicant's credit card and applicants are asked to purchase such goods as expensive electronics. The applicant ships the goods, often to Eastern Europe, where scam operators sell them. Applicants end up with neither a job nor a paycheck
Monday, March 15, 2010
No Jobs And When You Do Find One It is For Less Pay
The New York Times - A YEAR ago, I wrote about a job fair at the Sheraton in Midtown Manhattan, where over 5,000 mainly white collar, middle-aged jobless men and women waited in the cold for more than two hours, hoping to find work. The turnout was a sign of desperate times; until then, the organizer, Tory Johnson, who’s been conducting these fairs in 10 cities for a decade, had never had more than 2,000 people at one of these events.
For that column, I interviewed two dozen boomers. Given recent reports from the federal government and Manpower, the employment agency, that the hiring outlook is beginning to improve, I thought it would be worthwhile to go back to those highly motivated people. Among them are Jo Fagan, a former vice president at Crown publishing who had applied for over 500 jobs in 22 months, and Greg Kramer, 54, a former buyer for a video company, who had attended three job fairs a month, typically arriving three hours before doors opened.
I wanted to know how they’re doing a year later.
The short answer is, of the 16 I interviewed again, 9 describe themselves as still struggling. Eight continue to be unemployed or are working part-time jobs that pay near minimum wage. Several were so concerned about bias, they did not want to give their ages.
Unemployment is slightly lower than the national average for workers older than 45 (8.1 percent). But once those people lose a job, it takes them longer to be rehired. In February, jobless workers over 45 were unemployed an average of 34 weeks versus 27 for younger workers.
And while there are no numbers yet for this recession, in past recessions, the older the workers, the bigger the wage loss when they were rehired, according to Steven Hipple, a Bureau of Labor Statistics economist. After the 1991-93 recession, rehired workers age 55 to 64 on average suffered a 27 percent wage loss, versus a 7 percent loss for workers age 25 to 34. After the 2001-3 recession, workers age 45 to 54 had a 23 percent wage loss when rehired, versus 6 percent for younger workers.
Saturday, February 6, 2010
Labor Market Shows Signs of Rebirth in New Data
The New York Times - The unemployment rate unexpectedly dipped to 9.7 percent in January, from 10 percent in December, the government reported Friday, buoying hopes that the worst job market in at least a quarter-century is finally improving. But a different survey in the Labor Department’s report found that the economy lost 20,000 net jobs during the month, muddying the picture and underscoring the formidable struggles still confronting millions of Americans. Yet with the pace of decline slowing, most experts focused on signs that the economy was recovering after the longest recession since the Great Depression.
Rising U.S. Job Worries Add to Upheaval
The Wall Street Journal - Concerns about the ability of the U.S. economy to create jobs added to a broader wave of fear about European finances, as fresh data showed unemployment claims rising and companies managing to boost production without adding workers.
The Labor Department reported initial claims for jobless benefits rose by a larger-than-expected 8,000, to 480,000 claims in the week ended Jan. 30. A separate report showed that companies managed to increase output for each hour worked at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 6.2% in the 2009 final quarter, down from the third quarter's 7.2%, but still well above average.
The data reinforced doubts that a strong rebound in jobs will give U.S. consumers the wherewithal they need to contribute to a sustainable economic recovery. The market will learn more early Friday when the U.S. unemployment number for January is reported.
The latest reports "confirm that the recovery in the labor market is likely to be quite slow," said Conrad DeQuadros, an economist at consultancy RDQ Economics. "That suggests consumer spending is not going to be the major driver of growth in 2010."
Sunday, November 22, 2009
In recession, one road led back home
Missoula native Melissa Meyer never expected that she would return home to Montana to rethink her future plans. After graduating Summa Cum Laude from George Washington University, moving home has become an unexpected time out to rethink future plans and the various roads she could take in the coming year.
Melissa had always been too big for this town, her father liked to say. She was editor of the school newspaper, an intern in the U.S. Senate and the only student from Sentinel High School's Class of 2005 to attend college on the East Coast. On her rare visits home from George Washington University, longtime friends liked to tease her: "Hey, Melissa, are you president yet?"
So, how to explain this? Each morning, Melissa wakes up in her old bedroom, scans the foreign decor and thinks: This is the guest room now. I am the guest. I am not supposed to be here.
She graduated magna cum laude from the GW Business School in May, applied for 30 jobs at some of the nation's best-known companies, and it went nowhere. After visiting the campus career center and redesigning her résumé, she applied for 10 more jobs. Still nothing. The lease on her Foggy Bottom apartment expired in June. There was no place to go but home, with a collection of rejection letters and a haunting sense of betrayal. For 23 years, she had advanced down America's path to success -- perfect grades, a $200,000 college degree, a folder overstuffed with business cards -- only to have it dead-end back where she started.
"What was the point?" she asks.
For Melissa, that question is the legacy of the recession as she rises one Tuesday morning in early fall and begins her day with the same routine that defined her adolescence. She rummages through the refrigerator, eats leftovers from a dinner party her parents threw the night before and then retreats upstairs to prepare for a fill-in shift at the same job she held throughout high school. After changing into cowboy boots and a skirt, she borrows her parents' car and drives three minutes to work at Rockin Rudy's, a record store with a peace sign hanging at the entrance.
Saturday, November 7, 2009
U.S. Unemployment Rate Hits 10.2%, Highest in 26 Years
The Labor Picture: October 2009
Unemployment Rate Grew 0.4 percentage points in Oct.
| One month change | +0.4 pts | |
| One year change | +3.6 pts |
Number of Jobs 12-month change, in thousands
| One month change | -0.1% | |
| One year change | -4.0% |
Discouraged WorkersNot looking for work because of the economy, in thousands
| One month change | +14.4% | |
| One year change | +66.9% |
Monday, October 5, 2009
Lost Jobs May Never Return
The Wall Street Journal - The U.S. has shed 7.2 million jobs since the recession began in December 2007. How long will it take for the economy to replace them? And where will the jobs come from?
The questions haunt people from the unemployed in San Francisco to officials in Washington. Glenn Atias lost his job as a $100,000-a-year statistician at a market-research firm in the Bay Area last summer when the work was outsourced to India. At 46 years old, he pores over job ads and online postings daily. "I'm stuck watching hundreds of thousands of people in my position grow in ranks each and every month," said Mr. Atias, who lives in Salton City, Calif., in a house worth less than the mortgage.
When unemployment benefits run out, he said, "I literally don't know how I'll pay my mortgage, how I'll pay my health care."
Economists say that when demand picks up -- as it is starting to do -- jobs eventually will follow. History shows that has always been true. But guessing which jobs will be created over the long run is often fruitless. Many of tomorrow's jobs don't exist today.
In 2003, Treasury Department chief economist Alan Krueger, then at Princeton, calculated that a quarter of U.S. workers at the time were in jobs the Census Bureau didn't even list as occupations in 1967.
Determining which fields will become popular is next to impossible. "It is very difficult, without a crystal ball, to know where the economy will be in 10 years," said Susan Wolff, chief academic officer of Columbia Gorge Community College in The Dalles, Ore. "Sometimes we think we're doing a pretty good job if we can guess where the economy is going to be in five years."http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125470053662262957.html
The questions haunt people from the unemployed in San Francisco to officials in Washington. Glenn Atias lost his job as a $100,000-a-year statistician at a market-research firm in the Bay Area last summer when the work was outsourced to India. At 46 years old, he pores over job ads and online postings daily. "I'm stuck watching hundreds of thousands of people in my position grow in ranks each and every month," said Mr. Atias, who lives in Salton City, Calif., in a house worth less than the mortgage.
When unemployment benefits run out, he said, "I literally don't know how I'll pay my mortgage, how I'll pay my health care."
Economists say that when demand picks up -- as it is starting to do -- jobs eventually will follow. History shows that has always been true. But guessing which jobs will be created over the long run is often fruitless. Many of tomorrow's jobs don't exist today.
In 2003, Treasury Department chief economist Alan Krueger, then at Princeton, calculated that a quarter of U.S. workers at the time were in jobs the Census Bureau didn't even list as occupations in 1967.
Determining which fields will become popular is next to impossible. "It is very difficult, without a crystal ball, to know where the economy will be in 10 years," said Susan Wolff, chief academic officer of Columbia Gorge Community College in The Dalles, Ore. "Sometimes we think we're doing a pretty good job if we can guess where the economy is going to be in five years."http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125470053662262957.html
Saturday, May 9, 2009
Jobless Rate Still Rising, But Not As Fast
The New York Times - The American job market remains dreadful and is still worsening, but at a slower pace than before — good news given the stomach-churning events of recent months. The government’s monthly employment report buoyed hopes that the longest, most punishing recession since the Great Depression may be relenting.
The numbers for April looked good only by comparison with recent months, with February’s net job loss revised up to 681,000, from 651,000, and March’s net losses revised up to 699,000, from 663,000. The rise in the unemployment rate, from 8.5 percent in March, was mostly because more people began seeking jobs who had not previously been looking for work
Those holding more optimistic outlooks focus on the government-led initiatives to stimulate the economy. A $787 billion spending and tax cut package is beginning to wash through the economy. The Federal Reserve and the Treasury have been pouring money into mortgage markets and other areas, bringing down the costs of borrowing..http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/09/business/economy/09jobs.html
The numbers for April looked good only by comparison with recent months, with February’s net job loss revised up to 681,000, from 651,000, and March’s net losses revised up to 699,000, from 663,000. The rise in the unemployment rate, from 8.5 percent in March, was mostly because more people began seeking jobs who had not previously been looking for work
Those holding more optimistic outlooks focus on the government-led initiatives to stimulate the economy. A $787 billion spending and tax cut package is beginning to wash through the economy. The Federal Reserve and the Treasury have been pouring money into mortgage markets and other areas, bringing down the costs of borrowing..http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/09/business/economy/09jobs.html
Friday, May 8, 2009
U.S. Jobless Rate Hits 8.9%, but Pace of Losses Eases
The New York Times - The United States economy lost 539,000 jobs in April, the government reported on Friday, a sign that the relentless pace of job losses was starting to level off slightly but was still nowhere near ending.
A year ago, the loss of more than half a million jobs in a single month would have seemed like a disaster for the economy. On Friday, experts were calling it an improvement.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the unemployment rate surged to 8.9 percent in April, its highest point in a generation. But some economists saw glimpses of a bottom in the latest grim accounting of job losses.http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/09/business/economy/09jobs.html
A year ago, the loss of more than half a million jobs in a single month would have seemed like a disaster for the economy. On Friday, experts were calling it an improvement.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the unemployment rate surged to 8.9 percent in April, its highest point in a generation. But some economists saw glimpses of a bottom in the latest grim accounting of job losses.http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/09/business/economy/09jobs.html
Sunday, April 12, 2009
Longer Unemployment for Those 45 and Older
When Ben Sims, 57, showed up earlier this year for a job interview at a company in Richardson, Tex., he noticed the hiring manager — several decades his junior — falter upon spotting him in the lobby. Her face actually dropped,” said Mr. Sims, who was dressed in a conservative business suit, befitting his 25-year career in human resources at I.B.M.
Later, in her office, after several perfunctory questions, the woman told Mr. Sims she did not believe the job would be “suitable” for him. And, barely 10 minutes later she stood to signal the interview was over.
“I knew very much then it was an age situation,” said Mr. Sims, who has been looking for work since November 2007, a month before the economic downturn began.
The recession’s onslaught has come as Mr. Sims and many others belonging to the post-World War II baby boom generation — the demographic burst from 1946 to 1964 that reshaped the country — remain years from retirement. But unemployed boomers, many of whom believed they were still in the prime of their careers, are confronting the grim reality that they face some of the steepest odds of any job seekers in this dismal market.
Unemployed workers ages 45 and over form a disproportionate share of the hard-luck recession category, the long-term unemployed — those who have been out of work for six months or longer, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. On average, laid-off workers in this age group were out of work 22.2 weeks in 2008, compared with 16.2 weeks for younger workers.http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/13/us/13age.html
Later, in her office, after several perfunctory questions, the woman told Mr. Sims she did not believe the job would be “suitable” for him. And, barely 10 minutes later she stood to signal the interview was over.
“I knew very much then it was an age situation,” said Mr. Sims, who has been looking for work since November 2007, a month before the economic downturn began.
The recession’s onslaught has come as Mr. Sims and many others belonging to the post-World War II baby boom generation — the demographic burst from 1946 to 1964 that reshaped the country — remain years from retirement. But unemployed boomers, many of whom believed they were still in the prime of their careers, are confronting the grim reality that they face some of the steepest odds of any job seekers in this dismal market.
Unemployed workers ages 45 and over form a disproportionate share of the hard-luck recession category, the long-term unemployed — those who have been out of work for six months or longer, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. On average, laid-off workers in this age group were out of work 22.2 weeks in 2008, compared with 16.2 weeks for younger workers.http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/13/us/13age.html
Friday, February 6, 2009
Recession Job Losses Surpass Three Million
WASHINGTON -- U.S. employment plunged in January by a three-decade high, a government report showed, bringing total job losses since the recession started in December 2007 to 3.6 million.
Half of those losses occurred in the last three months alone, and the stepped-up pace of layoffs in recent months suggests no end in sight to the economic downturn.
The report, which included another sharp rise in the unemployment rate to a 16-year high, upped the heat on U.S. lawmakers to enact a large fiscal stimulus package.
Nonfarm payrolls, which are calculated by a survey of establishments, tumbled 598,000 in January, the U.S. Labor Department said Friday, the most since December 1974 and well above the 525,000 drop Wall Street economists in a Dow Jones Newswires survey expected. December was revised to show an even steeper decline of 577,000.
The U.S. "is contracting greatly," said Christina Romer, head of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, and the jobs data "reinforce the need for bold fiscal action."
The government included revisions for all of 2008, which showed the U.S. lost about 3 million jobs last year, roughly 400,000 more than first thought. In the 12 months through January, the economy shed more jobs over that timeframe since the government started compiling those figures in 1939.http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123392627601156735.html
Half of those losses occurred in the last three months alone, and the stepped-up pace of layoffs in recent months suggests no end in sight to the economic downturn.
The report, which included another sharp rise in the unemployment rate to a 16-year high, upped the heat on U.S. lawmakers to enact a large fiscal stimulus package.
Nonfarm payrolls, which are calculated by a survey of establishments, tumbled 598,000 in January, the U.S. Labor Department said Friday, the most since December 1974 and well above the 525,000 drop Wall Street economists in a Dow Jones Newswires survey expected. December was revised to show an even steeper decline of 577,000.
The U.S. "is contracting greatly," said Christina Romer, head of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, and the jobs data "reinforce the need for bold fiscal action."
The government included revisions for all of 2008, which showed the U.S. lost about 3 million jobs last year, roughly 400,000 more than first thought. In the 12 months through January, the economy shed more jobs over that timeframe since the government started compiling those figures in 1939.http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123392627601156735.html
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
China's Migrants See Jobless Ranks Soar
SHUANGYAO, China -- The global slowdown is taking a toll on China, claiming the jobs of an estimated 20 million migrant workers and dimming their prospects as they set out in search of work after the New Year holiday.
The year ahead appears no more promising: Officials forecast the number of migrants looking for jobs will reach at least 25 million.
The government estimates the total population of rural migrants -- those working outside their home village -- at approximately 130 million people.
China doesn't conduct regular surveys to gauge nationwide unemployment; Mr. Chen's estimate of 20 million job losses covered only migrant workers. He said his figure was based on an official survey in January of migrant workers in 15 provinces, which showed 15.3% of respondents had lost their jobs or been unable to find work. He said the total number of migrants seeking work this year will likely be at least 25 million, since usually six million to seven million people join the migrant work force each year.
China's government worries that if migrants cannot find jobs, they will be a force for unrest. The uncertainty is being felt in Shuangyao, just north of the Yangtze River in central China's Anhui province. Roughly 150 people from this village of 60 families -- or almost all able-bodied adults between ages 20 and 60 -- work elsewhere, in cities such as Beijing or factory towns in China's export hub, the Pearl River Delta.http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123359977495740199.html
Friday, January 9, 2009
Jobless Rate Surges to 17 Year High
The Wall Street Journal - WASHINGTON -- The final employment report for 2008 closed the books on a miserable year for U.S. workers with payrolls plunging last month by more than half a million, pushing the unemployment rate to a 16-year high.
The economy lost 2.6 million jobs in 2008, government figures showed, the most since World War II ended in 1945. Nearly two million of those losses were in the last four months alone, a sign that the recession accelerated as the financial crisis intensified, and should drag on well into the new year.
The figures will likely put pressure on Federal Reserve officials to expand their already aggressive quantitative easing steps in which cash is essentially created and pumped into the economy, and gives backing to those calling for large-scale fiscal stimulus.http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123150742539367897.html
The economy lost 2.6 million jobs in 2008, government figures showed, the most since World War II ended in 1945. Nearly two million of those losses were in the last four months alone, a sign that the recession accelerated as the financial crisis intensified, and should drag on well into the new year.
The figures will likely put pressure on Federal Reserve officials to expand their already aggressive quantitative easing steps in which cash is essentially created and pumped into the economy, and gives backing to those calling for large-scale fiscal stimulus.http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123150742539367897.html
Sunday, December 7, 2008
U.S. Loses 533,000 Jobs in Biggest Drop Since 1974
A job fair in Hialeah, Fla., in NovemberThe New York Times - The government’s report of a giant job loss in November, the biggest monthly decline in a generation, puts more pressure on Congress and the administration to move quickly on a stimulus package, mortgage relief and perhaps financial aid for Detroit’s big automakers.
The nation’s employers cut 533,000 jobs in November, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday.
Not since December 1974, toward the end of a severe recession, have so many jobs disappeared in a single month — and the current recession, far from ending, appears to be just gathering steam.
“We are caught in a downward spiral in which employment, incomes and spending are collapsing together,” said Nigel Gault, chief domestic economist for IHS Global Insight. “With private spending frozen, we have no choice but to rely on a stimulus package to revive the economy.”
The unemployment rate rose to 6.7 percent, up just two-tenths of a percentage point from October, but up six-tenths over the last three months. More than 420,000 men and women who had been working or seeking work in October left the labor force in November.
More significantly, the unemployment rate does not include those too discouraged to look for work any longer or those working fewer hours than they would like. Add those people to the roster of the unemployed, and the rate hit a record 12.5 percent in November, up 1.5 percentage points since September.
Noting that 1.9 million jobs have been lost since the start of the recession a year ago — two-thirds of them since September — President-elect Barack Obama invoked public spending as the best way to get a dead-in-the-water economy moving again. “This painful crisis,” he said in a statement, is an opportunity “to improve the lives of ordinary people by rebuilding roads and modernizing schools for our children,” and by investing in clean energy projects. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/06/business/economy/06jobs.html?partner=permalink&exprod=permalink
CNBC video: http://www.cnbc.com/id/15840232?video=952565895
Sunday, November 23, 2008
Near Fears Arise in Michigan Over Economy
Editors note: This is why the government needs to step in and help the economy and the auto industry. Otherwise, we might as well say goodbye to Ohio and Michigan. - MTThe New York Times - FENNVILLE, Mich. — The bad news keeps coming to Michigan, a state long stuck in recession and at ground zero in the national economic downturn. But unlike in months and years past, there are no exceptions to the despair, not even here among the bucolic resort communities along Lake Michigan.
Sandra Peavley, 54, of Warren, near Detroit, ran out of unemployment last month.
The flailing auto industry is important here, but so is furniture building, tourism, the retail trade and construction — pieces of the economy long buffered from the downturn in Detroit. Now waves of layoffs are sweeping towns around here in wine country and elsewhere across the state, swelling the ranks of the unemployed just as tens of thousands of those already of out of work fear running out of unemployment benefits.
“You just sit and you worry,” said Pat Weber, a construction administrator in Fennville who was laid off more than a year ago. “In the last year, I’ve put in for more than 100 jobs. I stopped counting after 110. It’s just so defeating.”
All around Fennville and its neighbors here in southwest Michigan, front lawns are peppered with for-sale signs and merchants complain about slow days. But while this remains a beautiful place with none of the obvious blight of Detroit on the other side of the state, residents say the hardship beneath the surface is very real.
It is the same story in other parts of Michigan, as the state’s already entrenched recession — in at least its fifth year, according to economic experts — digs deeper as a result of the recent global financial crisis.
New data show the state’s unemployment rate crept up to 9.3 percent, almost three times what it was in 2000, and, along with Rhode Island, the highest in the country. Just last week, Herman Miller Inc., an office furniture company based in Zeeland, Mich., announced that it would eliminate or lay off 400 to 650 workers, many of them in western Michigan. SKD Automotive, an auto parts manufacturer in Jonesville, Mich., where it is the largest employer, indicated it would eliminate 300 jobs.
As a result of the steady job losses that began in the summer of 2000, 1.82 million Michigan residents, or close to 20 percent of the population, are now on some form of public assistance, including food stamps and home heating credits, a record for the state.
“It is really hard not knowing if you aren’t going to be working the next day,” said Wendy Einhardt, 47, who spent 16 years making plastic car parts before being laid off in August in Sebewaing, on Saginaw Bay of Lake Huron. “You worry a lot about what is coming.”
Around the state, home foreclosures are commonplace, the trust fund that pays unemployment benefits is millions of dollars in debt, food banks are struggling and health agencies are reporting an uptick in people with symptoms like anxiety and depression. Suicides were up in recent years, although officials caution against drawing any direct links between deaths and the economy.
In one sign of distress, in the first nine months of this year, some 130,000 Michigan residents who had lost their jobs remained out of work so long that they ran out of regular unemployment benefits. By the middle of this month, 63,000 people (who had already run out of their ordinary maximum benefit — as many as 26 weeks, at as much as $362 a week) also ran out of an extension authorized by Congress.
Without a second extension of benefits, signed by President Bush on Friday, tens of thousands of others had been expected to run out each month.http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/23/us/23michigan.html?partner=permalink&exprod=permalink
Friday, October 10, 2008
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