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Unemployment rates decreased

admin — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 10:33:36 +0000

The department said almost 120,000 Kansans were actively seeking jobs last month, compared with about 74,000 in July 2008.The rate in Jefferson County dropped to 7.8 percent in July from 8.3 percent in June, the lowest the rate has been since November. The county’s unemployment rate is still much higher than at this time last year, when it hovered at 6 percent for most of the summer.Statewide, New York’s unemployment rate fell slightly in July, dropping to 8.6 percent from 8.7 in June. That’s the state’s first month-to-month decrease in a year.The Hudson Valley rate rose to 7.6 percent from 5.2 percent a year ago, which Johny Nelson, regional labor analyst for the department, said was the largest July over-the-year increase on record since 1991.

Higher jump in Energy demand

admin — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 04:53:09 +0000

The attacks underscore the fragility of Iraq’s security since U.S. combat troops withdrew from urban areas on June 30 and as the country prepares for elections in January. The withdrawal from cities is part of a U.S.-Iraqi agreement signed in January that outlines the complete pullout of American forces by the end of 2011. Oil prices and energy stocks rallied after the U.S. Department of Energy said that U.S. crude-oil inventories plunged unexpectedly last week by 8.4 million barrels. Crude for September delivery gained $3.23 a barrel, or 4.67%, to settle at $72.42. Oil has climbed more than 8% in two days and is at its highest level since June 11.

Retail sales fall in USA

admin — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 06:13:58 +0000

Retail sales fell unexpectedly in July, while first-time claims for jobless benefits rose slightly last weekMany economists still expect the nation’s gross domestic product, the broadest gauge of the economy, to grow 2 to 3 percent in the current July-September quarter and by a similar amount in the fourth quarter. But some worry it will be hard to sustain that pace next year if consumers remain reluctant to spendThe latest government reports reinforced concerns about how quickly consumers will be able to contribute to a broad economic recovery. “There is really no positive spin to put on these numbers,” Jennifer Lee, an economist with BMO Capital Markets, wrote in a research note. “The U.S. consumer remains very weak. The jobs situation, while slowly improving, is still dismal.What was still more damaging for the future prospects of the US economy was that sales at US shops, malls and other retail channels fell unexpectedly last month, and by so much that the small positive effect of the US car scrappage scheme was more than cancelled out. An overall 0.1 per cent decline in sales, the first fall in three months, reinforced fears that the US recovery may be more unsteady than hoped. The US Federal Reserve said earlier this week that the US economy had “flattened out”, a view undermined by the latest news. Retail Purchases excluding cars fell by 0.6 per cent on the month, again by more than forecasts. Consumption comprises around 70 per cent to of the US economy – and is around 16 per cent of the global economy.

Economic growth in Europe

admin — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 05:03:57 +0000

Reactions among European governments were mixed. Finance Minister Christine Largarde declared that France has pulled out of recession. German Economics Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg was less confident. “There is still a long way to go before our economy regains its level of a year ago,” he said in a statement.European stocks rose on hopes of recovery as skeptics warned that the recovery likely will be slow, held back by high unemployment, the continued scarcity of credit, and the expiration of government fiscal stimulus.An unexpected rise in second-quarter GDP in Germany and France, pillars of the euro zone economy, boosted financial markets, which are still fretting over the potential for a global economic pickup.Fresh data on Thursday dented hopes the U.S. economy is on the verge of a strong rebound, even as Western Europe’s two largest economies reported a surprising return to growth in the second quarter.

Crude futures drop

admin — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 08:27:43 +0000

Crude fluctuated in a narrow $71.48-$71.96 a barrel range in Asia. The drop was in response to a stronger dollar and a forecast by the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration that it now expects a near-to-below-normal hurricane season, as the effect of the El Niño weather pattern continues to develop. Benchmark crude for September delivery was down 46 cents to $71.48 a barrel by midday in Singapore in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. On Thursday, the contract lost 3 cents to settle at $71.94.A much tougher test of the oil market’s resiliency as an asset class will be the release of the monthly employment data,” said Jim Ritterbusch of Ritterbusch and Associates in Gelana, Illinois.

Unemployment in Britain

admin — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 08:46:41 +0000

About 1.6 million people are claiming unemployment benefits. Economists called the data “truly horrible”. The West Midlands has become the first British region in the current recession to see its unemployment rate reach double figures: 10.3 per cent. There is also increasing evidence that workers are turning to temporary and part-time work, as well as putting up with minimal pay rises, to avoid the dole. Renewed efforts by the authorities to push workers to accept any kind of job rather than claim benefits, and increasingly stringent eligibility criteria, have accelerated this trend. Thus the number of the unemployed claiming jobseeker’s allowance rose by only 23,800 in June, much less than expected – down from rises of 30,800 in May and a record 136,600 in February. Young people are bearing the brunt of the pain. Gordon Brown made his political reputation in the 1980s and 1990s railing against the waste of human talent during the Conservatives’ rule, yet today one in five 18-to-24 year olds is jobless; 726,000 youngsters are looking for work. That toll will jump dramatically as more school leavers and graduates sign on this summer. The Federal Reserve this week projected that the national unemployment rate, currently at a 26-year high of 9.5 percent, will pass 10 percent by the end of the year. Most Fed policymakers said it could take “five or six years” for the economy and the labor market to get back on a path of long-term health.

Steven Rattner resigns

admin — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 11:50:53 +0000

Rattner’s decision to step down after fewer than five months on the panel follows the administration’s successful plan to march GM and Chrysler through what Rattner once called “quick rinse” bankruptcies, backed by government aid that totals $85 billion. Rattner also carried out the firing of former GM Chairman Rick Wagoner as part of the government’s rescue.Steven Rattner, the Wall Street financier who drew the Obama administration’s road map for guiding General Motors Co. and Chrysler Group LLC through bankruptcy, will resign from the president’s auto task force, the administration said Monday.The exact date of Rattner’s departure hasn’t been determined. The Treasury Department said Ron Bloom would oversee the auto task force after Rattner leaves. Rattner declined to comment. Steven Rattner stepped down Monday after having overseen the U.S. government’s unprecedented efforts to restructure General Motors Co. and Chrysler Group LLC

Unemployment rate in US

admin — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 09:47:27 +0000

U.S. employment fell by a seasonally adjusted 467,000 jobs in June, after declining by 322,000 the month before, the Labor Department said Thursday. The report is at odds with such signs of recent economic improvement as growing home sales and increased business investment.The key question is how long will the U.S. keep shedding jobs. Unemployment, as well as the fear of losing work, has slowed consumer spending and hobbled overall economic growth.Manufacturing employment continued to sink, dropping another 136,000 positions, as the battered auto industry and related transportation industry contracted. The construction industry cut 79,000 jobs last month and is now down 1 million jobs from a year ago, masking job gains from some 2,000 projects in the Obama Recovery Act that already have been launched.

General Electric,s resear center

admin — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 10:25:49 +0000

The U.S. has faltered as it has moved toward a service- and consumption-based economy, Immelt said. He singled out financial services, which he said comprise 45 percent of earnings of companies on the Standard & Poor’s 500 index, up from 10 percent a quarter-century earlier.Earlier Friday, Immelt announced GE is developing a $100 million research and development facility in Wayne County’s Van Buren Township, 25 miles west of Detroit. About 1,200 scientists and engineers initially will be hired to develop manufacturing technologies for GE’s renewable energy, aircraft engine, gas turbine and other products.The center, called the Advanced Manufacturing and Software Technology Center, will be about 25 miles outside Detroit in Van Buren Township. G.E.’s plan is to hire engineers and scientists in the region who have been put out of work by the shrinkage in the auto industry.The new center will add nearly 1,200 high-paying jobs — focused on developing advanced manufacturing technology as well as software — to Michigan’s struggling economy, and serve as GE’s information technology training hub .

GM to build small cars

admin — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 09:08:51 +0000

By deciding to build the small cars in the United States, GM is defying the industry’s conventional wisdom that small cars can only be profitably made in low labor cost countries such as Mexico, China, India or eastern Europe. The key is GM’s labor agreement with the UAW that allows up to 25% of any plant’s workers to be hired at a wage and benefit cost of $28 an hour, or about half of what veteran union workers receive.In addition to saving 1,200 jobs at Orion, GM will invest between $600 million and $800 million to equip the plant to build up to 160,000 small cars annually, beginning in 2011. The body panels and structural components will come from GM’s Pontiac stamping plant, preserving another 200 jobs.The plans fall under a tentative deal GM reached in April with the United Auto Workers. The union agreed to concessions that will allow GM to turn a profit on the vehicle, something that previously had been difficult in the U.S. with small cars because of relatively high labor costs. In return, GM agreed to build the model in the U.S. rather than China as originally planned.