Unemployment on the rise.

“A program to locate people eligible for jobless benefits played a role in the increase”.

Huh? What program? And here I was all set to blame it on a republican-controlled economy. No, wait… democrats have had no say in anything since 1994. It must be their fault! To a warped, twisted republican mind, that is the only thing that makes sense!

Jobless claims surge to highest level in 6 years

Claims for unemployment insurance at highest point in more than 6 years; layoff filings worse than expected.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The number of newly laid off people signing up for jobless benefits last week climbed to its highest point in more than six years as companies cut back given the faltering economy.

The Labor Department reported Thursday that new applications filed for unemployment insurance rose by a seasonally adjusted 7,000 to 455,000 for the week ending Aug. 2. The increase left claims at their highest level since late March 2002.

A program to locate people eligible for jobless benefits played a role in the increase, a Labor Department analyst said. However, the analyst couldn’t say how much of a role.

Looks more like a plan where many workers will lose… lose everything, that is.

GM to Cut Salaried Workers, Production, Dividend

DETROIT — General Motors Corp. said Tuesday it will lay off salaried workers, cut truck production, suspend its dividend and borrow $2 billion to $3 billion to weather a severe downturn in the U.S. market.

GM said the moves will raise $15 billion to help cover losses and turn around its North American operations.

“In short, our plan is not a plan to survive. It is a plan to win,” GM Chairman and CEO Rick Wagoner said in a broadcast to employees.

Must be from that “slight downturn” in the economy that top republicans have hinted at.

Jobless Claims Shoot Up to 2-Year High

WASHINGTON (AP) — The number of new people signing up for unemployment benefits last week shot up to the highest level in more than two years, fresh evidence of the damage to a national economy clobbered by housing, credit and financial crises.

The Labor Department reported Thursday that new applications filed for unemployment insurance jumped by a seasonally adjusted 38,000 to 407,000 for the week ending March 29. The increase left claims at their highest point since Sept. 17, 2005, following the blows of the devastating Gulf Coast hurricanes.

“This report supports the view that the jobs market is deteriorating toward recessionary conditions,” said T.J. Marta, a fixed-income strategist at RBC Capital Markets.

John McCain has stated several times that economics is not his strong suite. So it surprises me that so many people are still willing to risk their, and their children’s, futures by voting against their own best interests.

Jobless claims jump by 22,000

WASHINGTON - The number of newly laid off workers filing for unemployment benefits rose last week to the highest level in nearly two months, providing more evidence that the weak economy is having an adverse impact on the labor market.

The Labor Department said Thursday that applications for jobless benefits totaled 378,000 last week. That was an increase of 22,000 from the previous week and was a far bigger jump than had been expected.

The four-week average for new claims rose to 365,250, which was the highest level since a flood of claims caused by the 2005 Gulf Coast hurricanes.

You’re fired!

In a shower of pink slips, U.S. employers cut jobs last month for the first time in more than four years, the starkest signal yet that the economy is grinding to a halt if it hasn’t already toppled into recession.

Conditions are deteriorating, according to the latest employment snapshot by the Labor Department, which showed nervous employers slicing payrolls by 17,000. The country hadn’t seen such a nationwide job loss since 2003, when employers were still struggling to recover from the last previous recession.

“We are certainly on thin ice,” said John Silvia, chief economist at Wachovia. And even President Bush, normally a cheerleader for the economy, said there were “serious signs” it was weakening.
[...]

“There’s serious signs that … the economy is weakening and that we’ve got to do something about it,” Bush said.

No shit, Sherlock! What say we send a couple billion more to Iraq? And, have we made those tax cuts for the wealthy permanent yet?

It’s tough out there… and it’s gonna get lots tougher!

Highly Skilled And Out Of Work

Long-Term Joblessness Spreads in Middle Class

An unusually large share of workers have been out a job for more than six months even as overall unemployment has remained low, a little-noted weakness in the labor market that analysts said threatens to intensify the impact of the unfolding economic downturn.

In November, nearly 1.4 million people — almost one in five of those unemployed — had been jobless for at least 27 weeks, the juncture when unemployment insurance benefits end for most recipients. That is about twice the level of long-term unemployment before the 2001 recession.
[...]

“What has happened is a polarization of the labor market. It was very strong at the very top and very strong until recently at the bottom,” said Lawrence F. Katz, a labor economist at Harvard University. “But in the recent weak recovery, and now recession, demand has been very weak” for jobs in the middle.

Thank God for minimum-wage, seasonal jobs. Wal-Mart, Target, Kmart… we take our hats off to you!

WASHINGTON - Fewer people signed up for jobless benefits last week, an encouraging sign that most companies aren-t resorting to large’scale layoffs as the country copes with continuing problems in the housing and credit markets.

The Labor Department reported Wednesday that new applications filed for unemployment insurance dropped by a seasonally adjusted 11,000 to 330,000 for the week ending Nov. 17. It was the lowest level since the beginning of November. The 330,000 level of claims was in line with economists- forecasts.
[...]

So far, decent job creation and wage growth have helped to offset some of the negative forces hitting some people, problems ranging from weaker home values to hard-to-get credit.

By MARTIN CRUTSINGER
The Associated Press

The misleading fact about unemployment numbers from the government is that they don’t tell you that if people use up their unemployment benefits or give up looking for a job, they are no longer counted among the unemployed. - JS

WASHINGTON - The number of laid-off workers filing claims for unemployment benefits fell to the lowest level in seven weeks, an unexpected sign of improvement for the jobs market.

The Labor Department reported Thursday that new applications for unemployment benefits totaled 311,000 last week, a drop of 9,000 from the previous week. It marked the lowest level for jobless claims since July 28.

The decline came as a surprise for economists who had been forecasting a rise in claims of around 6,000.

The four-week average for claims, which smooths out some of the volatility, also showed an improvement, falling to 320,750 from 324,250 the previous week.

The labor market is being closely monitored for any signs that recent turmoil in financial markets and a deepening slump in housing are causing serious problems for the overall economy. Analysts believe the risks of a recession have risen significantly.

To ward off a possible downturn, the Federal Reserve on Tuesday cut a key interest rate by a half point. It was the first reduction in the federal funds rate in more than four years and was double the quarter-point change many analysts had expected.

read more HERE

By MATT SLAGLE, AP Technology Writer

DALLAS - Dell Inc. said Thursday that earnings fell slightly in preliminary first-quarter results, and the computer maker planned to lay off more than 8,000 employees over the next year as part of an ongoing restructuring.

Dell said it earned $759 million, or 34 cents per share, in the three months ended May 4. That compared with $762 million, or 33 cents per share, in the year-ago period.

First-quarter sales rose nearly 1 percent from the year ago period to $14.6 billion.

Analysts, on average, expected earnings of 26 cents per share on sales $13.95 billion, according to a poll by Thomson Financial.

Dell shares climbed more than 5 percent after the results were released.

In what has become a trend in recent quarters, Dell issued the financial results as a news release and didn’t offer any follow-up conference calls with analysts or reporters. The company didn’t provide year-ago figures in its report.

Round Rock-based Dell’s earnings statements from the second, third and fourth quarters also remain preliminary and have yet to be filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission because of an ongoing federal accounting probe that found numerous errors, evidence of misconduct and financial control deficiencies.

Thursday’s report included a charge of $46 million, or 2 cents per share, for costs related to the investigation.

Dell also hasn’t filed its annual report for the fiscal year ended Feb. 2.

read more at YAHOO! NEWS