Tag Archives: #Unemployment

Jared Bernstein: Chair Yellen Looks Under New Rocks, Finds Same Thing that’s Under Old Rocks

By Jared Bernstein
August 24, 2014

I yield to no one in my admiration for the careful, thoughtful, and reality-based economics practiced by Fed Chair Janet Yellen. So I was taken aback a bit by a section in her Jackson Hole speech on Friday.

It was the part where she gave a number of reasons why the absence of wage pressures may not, paradoxically, be signaling that considerable slack remains in the job market, and therefore, may not be signalling that the Fed should wait on raising rates to stave off faster inflation. Continue reading Jared Bernstein: Chair Yellen Looks Under New Rocks, Finds Same Thing that’s Under Old Rocks

Jared Bernstein: Has the Beveridge Curve Really Shifted? |

By Jared Bernstein
August 13th, 2014

The Beveridge Curve (BC) is a favorite tool of labor economists showing the inverse relationship between job openings and unemployment. It’s thus a kind of index of strength of labor demand: when the job market is tight, there’s low unemployment and more unfilled openings/job vacancies, and vice versa.

Continue reading Jared Bernstein: Has the Beveridge Curve Really Shifted? |

Rev. William Barber’s electrifying speech at Netroots Nation 2014

| Daily Kos

Reverend William Barber visited Netroots Nation and provided an inspirational speech that electrified the entire room. Most importantly, Rev. Barber gave a history lesson on moral fusion movements. Rev. Barber described the moral fusion movement in the context of the first and second reconstruction. He is imploring the effecting of the third reconstruction.

Continue reading Rev. William Barber’s electrifying speech at Netroots Nation 2014

The Federal Reserve Is Telling Us The Economy Is Pitiful

and
08/07/2014

Fewer than one-third of Americans report being better off financially than they were five years ago, with weak household savings and hefty debt burdens holding back large segments of the economy, according to a new Federal Reserve survey. Continue reading The Federal Reserve Is Telling Us The Economy Is Pitiful

By the Numbers: US Poverty | BillMoyersHQ

By Greg Kaufmann

US poverty (less than $19,090 for a family of three): 46.5 million people, 15 percent

Children in poverty: 16.4 million, 23 percent of all children, including 39.6 percent of African-American children and 33.7 percent of Latino children. Children are the poorest age group in the US

Continue reading By the Numbers: US Poverty | BillMoyersHQ

The economy is showing signs of improvement – The Washington Post

So why aren’t Democrats talking about it?

By Jaime Fuller

Today, President Obama will be in Denver, talking about improvements in the economic picture and his work toward making them happen. The unemployment rate is at 6.1 percent, and the United States has added 1.4 million new jobs since the beginning of 2014. Continue reading The economy is showing signs of improvement – The Washington Post

Arthur Delaney: The White House Had A Plan To Help The Long-Term Jobless. How’s It Going?

By Arthur Delaney

“I’ve been asking CEOs to give more long-term unemployed workers a fair shot at that new job and new chance to support their families,” President Barack Obama said in his State of the Union address. “This week, many will come to the White House to make that commitment real.”

More than 300 companies signed a pledge that they wouldn’t avoid hiring anyone just because of a long jobless spell. Studies have shown that long-term unemployment has become its own obstacle to getting hired. Continue reading Arthur Delaney: The White House Had A Plan To Help The Long-Term Jobless. How’s It Going?

@FiveThirtyEight: It’s Hard to Get Off the Couch When You’re #Unemployed

By Ben Casselman

Mark, 22 and unemployed, sleeps late in the morning.

His roommate has to get up for work, but Mark has nowhere to be. He rolls out of bed at 11 a.m. He checks his email — still no response to his last round of resumes — and heads out for a run. When he gets home, he spends 45 minutes filling out job applications, then plops down in front of the television for a couple hours before cleaning up the house — he’s taken on more chores since his roommate is cutting him a break on the rent. In the evening, his buddies are catching a game at the local bar, but Mark has class at the local community college, where he’s working toward a certificate in HVAC repair.

That deep divide between those with jobs and those without them reveals itself not just in well-known statistics on hiring and income but in the day-to-day details of how people live their lives. The unemployed have higher rates of depression, obesity and suicide. In interviews, they frequently report that the social and emotional impacts of joblessness — isolation from friends, the loss of a daily routine, feelings of uselessness — can be as hard as the financial toll. Many say it’s hard just to get out of bed in the morning. Continue reading @FiveThirtyEight: It’s Hard to Get Off the Couch When You’re #Unemployed