In January, the number of job losers and persons who completed temporary jobs fell to 7.3 million. The number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks or more) was little changed at 5.5 million and accounted for 42.9 percent of the unemployed. (See tables A-11 and A-12.)
After accounting for the annual adjustments to the population controls, the employment-population ratio (58.5 percent) rose in January, while the civilian labor force participation rate held at 63.7 percent. (See table A-1. For additional information about the effects of the population adjustments, see table C.)
The number of persons employed part time for economic reasons, at 8.2 million, changed little in January. These individuals were working part time because their hours had been cut back or because they were unable to find a full-time job. (See table A-8.)
In January, 2.8 million persons were marginally attached to the labor force, essentially unchanged from a year earlier. (The data are not seasonally adjusted.) These individuals were not in the labor force, wanted and were available for work, and had looked for a job sometime in the prior 12 months. They were not counted as unemployed because they had not searched for work in the 4 weeks preceding the survey. (See table A-16.)
So to be clear, it’s not super-great in every category — the long-term unemployment number is troubling — but it’s certainly better news than it’s been. And when you break it down into demographics, it looks like this:
Among the major worker groups, the unemployment rates for adult men (7.7 percent) and blacks (13.6 percent) declined in January. The unemployment rates for adult women (7.7 percent), teenagers (23.2percent), whites (7.4 percent), and Hispanics (10.5 percent) were little changed. The jobless rate for Asians was 6.7 percent, notseasonally adjusted. (See tables A-1, A-2, and A-3.)
131 years in the making: As we mentioned a couple weeks ago, the former film titan, whose business put cameras in the hands of millions of people, now enters a new phase in its long history, bankruptcy proceedings. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo called it “difficult and disappointing news,” which is understandable; their company was headquartered in Rochester, NY. Since 2003, Kodak has laid off about 47,000 employees, and now in bankruptcy protection their already weak stock price has plummeted to 34 cents per share. If you want to get really depressed about this story, read Alexis Madrigal’s great piece on the company’s history. source
On his blog, which will soon be moving to Newsweek & The Daily Beast, here’s how David Frum announced the news to his readers:
FrumForum launched itself almost exactly three years ago, on Inauguration Day 2009. Over the subsequent interval, our hundreds of contributors have reached more than 5 million individual readers. I like to think that together we have helped to move the national debate. When we launched, Sarah Palin was a leading candidate for president and Glenn Beck was broadcasting conspiracy theories on cable TV. Three years later–not so much. OK, maybe we can’t claim all the credit. But we won’t refuse some fair share.
Now like all good things, this adventure is coming to an end. I’ve been invited to move my blog and print journalism to the Daily Beast/Newsweek, a larger and more technologically advanced platform. Tina Brown is one of the great media visionaries of our time. The opportunity to work with her–and learn from her–is deeply exciting.
Starting Monday, my work will shift to the Daily Beast/Newsweek site. The FrumForum URL will forward readers to the David Frum page at Daily Beast/Newsweek. FrumForum itself will continue to exist as an archive site, preserving three years of debate–the brilliant insights of our writers–and the passionate comments of our readers. Noah Kristula-Green will join me on the Daily Beast/Newsweek team.
I sincerely thank all who participated and supported this project. The world is changed only very slowly. It’s a big rock, and as human beings we represent only very minuscule and fleeting drips of water. But change is made, and together I believe the change we have offered here has been for the good.
Above all, I thank every reader–those who dissented fully as much as those who read with agreement. Journalism in the digital age is a process rather than a product; an exchange rather than a presentation; intimate rather than abstract. That process continues as ardently as ever, but in a new and improved form and at a bigger and stronger venue.
We bolded the line about journalism, because that is just awesome and right on.
Frum is one of the smartest dudes in the game. Props to him. Between him and Sullivan, things are looking stacked over that-a-way.
On the Seventh and Eighth Days of Christmas …
Express gave to me, stuff to make an Express tree.
Express’ Christmas tree, decorated with radical mini-Express covers, just made an appearance on BuzzFeed. But it pales in comparison to The Washington Post’s tree. What’s it like? Click over.
» As goes the country, so go the states: Or maybe it’s the other way around? Well, either way, figures released today by the Department of Labor show that unemployment, in addition to falling to its lowest level in two and a half years at the national level, also decreased on a state-by-state basis in all but seven states. This is promising, as it suggests that the uptick in employment is a nationwide trend, and not the result of, say, five or ten states doing abnormally well for one reason or another. Note: The usual disclaimers about the problems with how unemployment is calculated apply.
youranonsanon says: No *@^! Sherlock, and holiday hiring is why, huge post holiday layoffs can be expected.
» SFB says: Actually … if you hop over to the source article, you’ll see the trend line on new unemployment benefits has largely been declining for months, beyond the holidays. (Minus a couple hiccups, such as a huge jump caused by a Verizon strike.) On top of this, the Department of Labor clearly states the data is seasonally adjusted, meaning that it theoretically shouldn’t be affected by holiday hiring unless there was something out of the ordinary that affected the numbers. In fact, minus the seasonal adjustment, the number of new jobless claims is roughly 70,000 higher. This explanation, which was hinted at in our post, is the more likely one, though even then, this number strictly accounts for new applications, not long-term jobless benefits. — Ernie @ SFB
» However: Don’t get too excited, guys. While the heavily-fluctuating number is certainly better than it’s been in a long time (and the unemployment number is at its lowest level in a long time), the comeback is far from here. Example: During the financial crisis, the U.S. lost roughly 8.8 million jobs; less than a third of those jobs have returned. On top of this, many are still unemployed, and their benefits could run out soon if Congress does not act on the extension for unemployment benefits. Yeah, sorry we have to be such downers, but let’s look in perspective here.
8bitian says: “Bad” and “worse” should be flipped. Somehow I think losing 250 mail-processing centers and 100,000 employees across the board is worse than MY NETFLIX IS SLOW.
» SFB says: Disagree, because, well, think about it this way — if that Netflix is getting to you a day slower, that also means bills will get to people who owe money (and payments will get back) more slowly, paychecks will get to workers more slowly (not everyone has direct deposit), and so on. That Netflix is the tip of the iceberg. It’s a ripple effect that will be felt across the entire economy — especially among older or less tech-savvy Americans. Basically, we’re talking about the difference between infrastructure and engine. A damaged infrastructure is bad, as is the job loss. However, if the engine gets damaged, it has the effect of hurting a lot of other infrastructures far beyond the U.S. Postal Service. And that’s a heck of a lot more dangerous. — Ernie @ SFB
(Source: shortformblog)
» Political ramifications: The jobs numbers aren’t at a point where people have reason to be dancing in the streets, but cautious optimism is the name of the game. The GOP’s election platform could waver if the numbers get any better. Hence this response from House speaker John Boehner: ”Any job creation is welcome news, but the jobless rate in this country is still unacceptable.” What do you all think?
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Editor’s Note: This is the third in a weekly series of talks between Decoder and The Motley Fool columnist Morgan Housel. You can find all of Housel’s Fool columns, including his most recent, “How succesfull will Bank Transfer Day be?,” here. Read last week’s talk the potential for labor to have its day in the sun here.
1. Perhaps thousands of Americans will transfer their money from for-profit banks to not-for-profit credit unions by this Saturday. (Read up on “Bank Transfer Day” here and read Housel’s column on it here.) But you think this may end up working out for banks AND customers. Why?
Housel: One of the drivers behind [Bank Transfer Day] is people trying to teach banks a lesson. The irony of that is since the financial crisis, and especially over the last three months as there has been a panic about Europe… banks have been inundated with cash deposits. They’ve been seeing a higher inflow of deposits than they can turn into loans. [more]
Are you taking part in Bank Transfer Day? It’s tomorrow. We’re curious about what’s going to happen.
We wonder if they’re hiring someone to study their logo very closely for subliminal arrows.
Apple CEO Tim Cook speaks to employees at a celebration of Steve Jobs’ life. (PHOTO: APPLE)
Peace out, Steve. For the last time.
Welcome to the
ten zillionthfourth debate in as many weeks for the GOP presidential primary contenders, coming to you live at 8 p.m. EST from Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire. You can watch it live on Bloomberg TV or online via the Washington Post here. If you haven’t been… [more]
DC Decoder’s preview is also worth a read. And after you read theirs, read ours!
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