Debate over jobs numbers
The jobs situation seems to continue to be getting better, with Friday’s announcement that unemployment fell two-tenths of a percent in January, to 8.3 percent.
But it’s not getting better fast enough, says Fifth District Republican Congressman Robert Hurt.
“A drop in the national unemployment average is always good news. However, the jobless rate remains above 8 percent now for the 36th consecutive month and we begin 2012 just as we left off in 2011 – with far too many out of work both in the Fifth District and across the country. Despite this drop nationally, many areas in the Fifth District still face double-digit unemployment rates due to years of failed big government policies,” Hurt said in a statement. Read more
Cautious optimism: Unemployment rate continues dip
The Virginia Employment Commission announced this morning that Virginia’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate fell to 6.5 percent in January, the lowest unemployment rate in the Commonwealth since March 2009.
The rate has been trending downward since March 2010, when the rate reached a high of 7.3 percent. The unemployment rate in Virginia continues to trend a couple of points below the national rate, which stood at 9.0 percent in January.
“The number one priority of our Administration is getting the Commonwealth’s economy back on track. We are focused on putting in place the policies, tools and resources that will help the private sector create good jobs in every region of the state. Today’s news that the unemployment rate has fallen to a near-two year low demonstrates that this bipartisan effort is paying off,” Gov. Bob McDonnell and Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling said in a joint statement today.
Perriello blasts Senate on unemployment benefits
Edited by Chris Graham
freepress2@ntelos.net
Fifth District Congressman Tom Perriello today released a statement blasting the U.S. Senate for playing politics with unemployment benefits and Medicare payments to doctors.
“The elites in the Senate may have forgotten what it’s like on Main Street for families still struggling in this recession,” Perriello said in the statement. “Hardworking Virginians who have lost their jobs through no fault of their own have been subject to the game-playing and political posturing of the Senate for too long. People depend on these benefits to put food on the table and keep a roof over their head while they search for new work. It’s unconscionable that the Senate continues to play politics with unemployment benefits and Medicare payments while the American people need action.” Read more
AFPBusiness.com: Unemployment holds at 9.7 percent
Edited by Chris Graham
AFPBusiness.com
The unemployment rate held at 9.7 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Employment fell in construction and information, while temporary help services added jobs.
Unemployment rate takes unexpected dip
Story by Chris Graham
freepress2@ntelos.net
Don’t get too excited, but the nation’s unemploynent rate made a move in the right direction in January, falling to 9.7 percent from 10.0 percent in December.
“It is important not to read too much into any one monthly report, positive or negative. It is essential that we continue our efforts to move in the right direction and replace job losses with robust job gains,” said Christina Romer, the chair of President Obama’s Council of Economic Advisers, in a statement on the numbers released Friday.
There are still likely to be “bumps in the road ahead,” Romer warned, and the good news today itself came with some of the bumps, the most noticeable being the revised estimate that has the economy losing more than 1 million more jobs due to the recession than had previously been estimated.
But even slightly good news is good news in an economy that was in freefall for months since the start of the recession in December 2007. Today’s figures show employment in manufacturing in general and motor-vehicle manufacturing in particular on the increase for the first time since January 2007, and the unemployment rate that includes all persons marginally attached to the labor force and workers working part-time for economic reasons falling by a full percentage point.
Local officials back jobs program
Staff Report
News tips: freepress2@ntelos.net
As U.S. mayors gathered in Washington this week to meet with the Obama administration about unemployment and the economy, Virginia local government officials and community leaders are calling for the creation of a Community Jobs program.
The jobs program would provide funding to localities across the country to create 1 million temporary public and private sector jobs. Congressman Keith Ellison from Minnesota has introduced HR 4268, The Put America to Work Act of 2009, in the U.S. House of Representatives to authorize a Community Jobs Program. The bill has 52 co-sponsors. Community groups and local government officials are working with partners around the country to organize in support of this bill, and to ensure that it becomes law.
Advocates for the legislation stress the urgency in creating new jobs. Since December 2007, when the recession began, the economy has shed 7.2 million jobs. In December 2009, the national unemployment rate was at a staggering 10 percent. Read more
Looking up
Column by David Reynolds
Submit guest columns: freepress2@ntelos.net
Now let’s see if I’ve got this right. We are just into the new year and the sky has not yet fallen. Yes, I know, no one actually predicted that the clouds would fall. Nevertheless, there were those who kept saying that whatever keeps the human race on a solid footing – be it good manners or gravity – may have left us.
So they set the stage. While the sky did not fall – they said that everything else would. First, let’s go back to March 6 of last year. The pessimists, those who make a living predicting every year the return of the Great Depression, were looking pretty good. They predicted bad tidings, except for Christmas day when the markets are closed. Of course, the pessimists were wrong. On the last day of 2009 it was the bulls with the smiles. The bears? Well, you know what bears look like.
Another example on the economic front. Following World War II there were the same fears as today. Therefore Congress passed The Full Employment Act of 1946, cosponsored by my favorite Democrat, the happy warrior, Sen. Hubert Horatio Humphrey. In 1978 when the economy was again looking down and unemployment was an unacceptable 6.1 percent the goal was to reach full employment – defined as 4.0 percent unemployment – not zero! Read more
Fifth District Report
Column by Tom Perriello
I want to update Virginians on some of the efforts I am undertaking in Congress to get our economy back on track.
You may recall in the Sept. 28 edition of this newsletter, I wrote that the U.S. House voted to extend unemployment benefits only in states where the unemployment rate is 8.5 percent or higher. Virginia, which has an unemployment rate of 6.5 percent, was not one of the states that would benefit from this bill, so I voted against it. At the same time, I continued to work for solutions for regions like Southside Virginia, which still face local unemployment rates that are unacceptably high. I lobbied congressional leaders and introduced legislation to extend unemployment benefits in all states, including Virginia. Read more
Forbes votes for unemployment-benefits extension
Congressman Randy Forbes (R-4th) announced today that he voted in favor of H.R. 3548, to allow workers to draw an additional 14 weeks of federal unemployment benefits after exhausting their regular 26 weeks of state compensation. According to the Joint Committee on Taxation, the bill is revenue neutral and paid for through a number of offsets. Read more
Webb pushes unemployment-benefits extension
Sen. Jim Webb today called on the Senate to pass a comprehensive proposal, which he cosponsored, to extend unemployment insurance by up to 14 additional weeks for jobless workers in all 50 states. Nearly two million out-of-work Americans face expiring benefits by the end of the year.
The critical measure was stalled last week by Republican leadership but is expected to more forward in the Senate in the coming weeks. In a competing House proposal, only states with jobless rates above 8.5 percent would qualify for a 13-week extension in benefits for the unemployed, which would exclude Virginia and twenty-two other states from receiving federal funds. Read more
Unemployment rate up nationally
The employment situation in Virginia and the Shenandoah Valley is looking a bit better. The situation nationally – not so much.
The national unemployment rate inched up from 9.7 percent in August to 9.8 percent in September, according to a report released today by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Read more
David Cox: Quiet progress
Posted by afp on September 28, 2010 · 1 Comment
With all the hype over burning Korans, building mosques, protesting Tea Partiers, not to mention the triumph of good over evil of the Redskins beating the Cowboys a week ago Sunday, you might have missed that point of some, if small, consolation.
So I’ll repeat: The monthly deficit is growing but at a slower rate. The Treasury Department reported a decrease in August of 12% with what it had been in August, 2009. July’s improvement was just over 8 percent, and in June the decrease was 27.3 percent from the year before. Individual and notably corporate income taxes are heartening. So while the deficit grows, at least it’s not growing at the rate it was.
There’s more news that might have gotten smothered.
Numbers of illegal immigrants in the United States decreased by a million or more by 2009, according to many reports, from 12 million to 11.1—and well below the 13 million that Congressman Goodlatte quoted on this page last week. In Virginia, the Washington Post reported, the numbers went down by 65,000 to 240,000 between 2008 and 2009.
After a terrible summer, the stock market has lately resumed its slow upward climb.
Many of those bailed-out companies have been repaying what the government provided, with interest. In retrospect, the move that started under President Bush was an investment that not only propped up (if not saved) the economy but also gave a good return to taxpayers. Turning a profit might not be the government’s job, but in this case, it sure beats the alternative.
Just before Labor Day, President Obama assembled leaders of the Middle East, notably of Israel and Palestine, for talks on bringing peace there. The talks were civil, productive, and may actually lead somewhere; and they have continued. This is huge, for reducing tensions and increasing stability would give less for radicals to protest and more for moderates to advance.
Let’s not forget that combat troops withdrew from Iraq (you probably heard that) and Iraq hasn’t yet collapsed. Though far from resolved, let’s recognize another step forward.
Many of the fears of a year or two ago have vanished. Remember how the new President was going to take away guns? Or that he would ban bullets, such that there was a run to stores to stockpile them? Didn’t happen.
Of course far too many Americans lack good jobs. Illegal immigrants number about a third more than a decade ago. Craziness still upsets relations between Israel and Palestine. War continues in Afghanistan. A monthly deficit adds to too-high levels. Our world is not nearly as perfect as we wish it were.
But the sky is not falling, either. Those who claim it is, notably for partisan gain, may be rushing around conveying their fears that they don’t look up to see if, just maybe, the sky is doing OK. Or maybe they don’t want to. Especially if they’ve based their lives or their political careers on breeding fear.
For all our troubles, the sky isn’t falling. The monthly deficit is. Those are both worth noting.
Column by David Cox. This column originally appeared in the Sept. 22 issue of The Rockbridge Weekly.
Filed under Blogs · Tagged with budget deficit, david cox, federal budget, federal budget deficit, tea party, unemployment