Caught in unemployment's revolving door

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Job seeker holds an employment application at a job fair on November 7, 2013 in West Palm Beach, Florida.

On a cold October morning, just after the federal government shutdown came to an end, Jenner Barrington-Ward headed into court in Boston to declare bankruptcy.

It took weeks to put the paperwork together, given that her papers and belongings were scattered across the country — there was a broken-down car and boxes of paperwork in Virginia Beach, clothes in Colorado and personal possessions at a friend's house in Somerville, Mass. She managed to estimate her income — maybe $5,000 last year, but maybe half that this year — from odd jobs. Soon, she would officially have nothing.

It has been a painful slide. A five-year spell of unemployment has slowly scrubbed away nearly every vestige of Ms. Barrington-Ward's middle-class life. She is a 53-year-old college graduate who worked steadily for three decades. She is now broke and homeless.

(Read more: Job creation soars in October)

Ms. Barrington-Ward describes it as "my journey through hell." She was laid off from an administrative position at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2008; she had earned about $50,000 that year. With the recession spurring employers to dump hundreds of thousands of workers a month and the unemployment rate climbing to the double digits, she found that no matter the number of résumés she sent out — she stopped counting in the thousands — she could not find work.

Via: CNBC

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Economy Still Growing Too Slowly

The Bureau of Economic Analysis’s (BEA) first estimate of economic growth for the third quarter of this year shows an economy that continues to grow at a plodding pace.

According to BEA, the economy grew at 2.8 percent from July 1 through September 30. This was slightly faster than the 2.5 percent the economy grew in in the second quarter of the year.

The main driver of growth in the third quarter was increased investment, the strongest component of which was a sharp climb in business inventories. Inventory accumulation could mean either that businesses didn’t sell as much as they anticipated during the third quarter or that they ramped up production in anticipation of a busy fourth quarter. Time will tell which.

Personal consumption was also a large contributor to growth. Purchases of durable goods—such as cars and home furnishings—drove the growth in consumption.

This is BEA’s first estimate of growth in the third quarter, and subsequent estimates will change.

Updated estimates won’t change the fact that growth continues to be too slow. Compared to previous recoveries from steep recessions, it is clear growth should be much more robust at this point. For instance, after a comparable period following the steep 1981–1982 recession, growth averaged 3.5 percent annually. And that was after periods of growth that were three times stronger than what we’ve seen since the last recession ended.

Via: The Foundry

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STUDY: 15% OF COUNTRY ON FOOD STAMPS

The country’s unemployment rate has been above eight percent for 43 months, which is longer than during any recession since 1980, and a Manhattan Institute study found that 15 percent of the country is now on food stamps, which is a record non-emergency high. 

The study found that three years after the Great Recession began in December of 2007 and was declared over in June of 2009, 47 million people each month are using the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). According to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), which administers the program, “fewer than one in 10 Americans” were on food stamps before the Great Recession. Currently, more than one in seven Americans are on food stamps.

“There is much concern surrounding this unprecedented increase in America's SNAP program, which began in 2008,” the authors of the study wrote. “Our results demonstrate that levels seen since the end of this recession are far higher than in prior recoveries.”

According to the study, food stamp usage “has been far higher both during the 2007–09 recession and thereafter than following prior recessions.” For instance, when the Great Recession began, 9.3 percent of Americans were on food stamps. In June of 2009, when the Great Recession was deemed to have ended, 11.4 percent were on food stamps. In June of 2012, 14.9 percent of Americans were on food stamps, which accounts for a 3.5 percentage point increase since the recession was declared over. 

In some states, over twenty percent of the population is on food stamps. These states include Oregon, Mississippi, New Mexico, and Tennessee. 

In Washington, D.C., 23% of the population is on food stamps. 

Via: Breitbart

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A Failed Presidency of Global Proportions

"These are the times that try men's souls."  So wrote Thomas Paine in the midst of the darkest days of the American Revolution, when the fate of what would become the grandest experiment in human liberty hung in the balance.  In recent weeks, those words have found renewed relevance as it becomes clear to this generation that the fate of our nation hangs in the balance again.

This much is now clear: on every count, domestic and foreign, the presidency of Barack Obama has failed.

Though pride or egotism may prevent many from acknowledging it, there is simply no rational argument left to plausibly deny this unfortunate reality.  Whether it is the crumbling value of the dollar, the demise of an economy once in recovery into one now slouching towards another recession, the crushing debt that is spinning us dangerously close to the point of no return, a persistent unemployment crisis that has not been remotely remedied by the continued spending or quantitative easing of all our brilliant government central planners, or the skyrocketing energy costs that break the collective banks of American family budgets both at the gas tank and with the monthly heating bill, President Obama has been a domestic policy disaster.  One of the worst ever.

On the foreign front, a similar conclusion was perhaps more difficult to discern until last week.  To any informed observer, there was certainly always reason for concern as the terror obsessed Muslim Brotherhood stretched its influence and consolidated its power throughout the Middle East under the protective cloak of the Obama-approved label "Arab Spring."  Prudent minds questioned how such a development could possibly end well for those who desire peace, and why despite being reassured by their president that "[t]he day I'm inaugurated, Muslim hostility will ease," America's approval rating in the Muslim world continued to plummet to new lows. 

Via: American Thinker

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More Americans opting out of banking system

In the aftermath of one of the worst recessions in history,        more Americans have limited or no interaction with banks,       instead relying on check cashers and payday lenders to          manage their finances, according to a new federal report.       

Not only are these Americans more vulnerable to high fees and interest rates, but they are also cut off from credit to buy a car or a home or pay for college, the report from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. said.

Released Wednesday, the study found that 821,000 households opted out of the banking system from 2009 to 2011 and that the so-called unbanked population grew to 8.2 percent of U.S. households.

That means that roughly 17 million adults are without a checking or savings account. Another 51 million adults have a bank account, but use pawnshops, payday lenders or rent-to-own services, the FDIC said. This underbanked population has grown from 18.2 percent to 20.1 percent of households nationwide.

The study also found that one in four households, or 28.3 percent, either had one or no bank account. A third of these households said they do not have enough money to open and fund an account. Minorities, the unemployed, young people and lower-income households are least likely to have accounts.

Via: Washington Post

Harry Reid: Tea Party Must Be Stopped From Winning The Senate

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (Nev.) addressed the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte earlier tonight. Below is the transcript of his speech, as prepared for delivery.

“My name is Harry Reid, the majority leader of the United States Senate and the senator from Searchlight, Nevada. It has been my honor to support and work with President Barack Obama, a man who has brought courage and character to the presidency. President Obama’s strength of character leads him to do the right thing, even when it isn’t the easy thing.

Some said he shouldn’t save Detroit. But President Obama made the tough and right call to save more than a million American jobs in an important, iconic industry.

Some said he shouldn’t move heaven and earth to get bin Laden. But President Obama made the tough and right call to bring the world’s worst terrorist to justice.

Some said he couldn’t take on the big banks that brought our economy to its knees. But President Obama made the tough and right call so taxpayers will never again be on the hook for Wall Street’s risky bets.

Some said he couldn’t take on the insurance companies that were ripping us off. But President Obama made the tough and right call to save lives, save Medicare and ensure no one goes broke just because they get sick.

His whole life, there have been so many who told him what he shouldn’t or couldn’t do. But America has a president who knows what we must do.

President Obama has also faced down another group of naysayers. In addition to the crowd of “couldn’ts” and “shouldn’ts,” the Republican Party has become the party of the “wouldn’ts” and the “won’ts.” They pledged on day one they wouldn’t lift a finger to help. And they haven’t.

In the depth of the Great Recession, as millions of Americans were struggling to find work, the Republican leader of the senate, Mitch McConnell, said Republicans’ number one goal was to make Barack Obama a one-term president. They wouldn’t cooperate to create jobs. They wouldn’t try to turn around the economy. They wouldn’t do anything but stand in President Obama’s way.

Via: Fox News

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Study: Most Jobs In ‘Economic Recovery’ Are Low Paying

Lower-paying jobs, with median hourly wages from $7.69 to $13.83, made up about 58% of the job growth from the end of the recession in late 2009 through early 2012.

WASHINGTON — Whereas 6 in 10 jobs lost during the Great Recession paid mid-level wages, the majority of jobs created in the recovery — positions such as store clerks, laborers and home healthcare aides — pay much less, according to a new study.

The findings highlight concerns about a shrinking middle class and pose another obstacle to getting the economy back on track, said Annette Bernhardt, policy co-director at the National Employment Law Project, which conducted the study.

"The recovery continues to be skewed toward low-wage jobs, reinforcing the rise in inequality and America's deficit of good jobs," she said. "While there's understandably a lot of focus on getting employment back to pre-recession levels, the quality of jobs is rapidly emerging as a second front in the struggling recovery."

Lower-paying jobs, with median hourly wages from $7.69 to $13.83, accounted for just 21% of the job losses during the recession. But they've made up about 58% of the job growth from the end of the recession in late 2009 through early 2012.

Those jobs have been concentrated in three industries: food services, retail and employment services, such as office clerks and customer service representatives, the study found.

In contrast, mid-wage occupations with median hourly wages from $13.84 to $21.13 — jobs such as construction workers, real estate brokers and data entry clerks — have accounted for just 22% of the new jobs in the recovery after making up 60% of the job losses in the recession.

Higher-wage occupations, with median hourly pay above $21.13, accounted for about 19% of the recession job losses and have made up about 20% of the jobs gained in the recovery, the study said.

The study covered jobs created from the first quarter of 2010 through the first quarter of 2012.

The recession and its aftermath have exacerbated a three-decade trend of growing wage inequality fueled by a shrinking number of mid-wage jobs, the study said.

Since the first quarter of 2001, employment in mid-wage jobs has decreased 7.3%. Meanwhile, lower-wage jobs have grown 8.7% and higher-wage jobs have increased 6.6%.

"The economy has fewer good jobs now than it did at the start of the 21st century," said Bernhardt, the study's coauthor.

She said there was no "single magic bullet" to reverse the trend.

But Washington officials could help improve the situation, Bernhardt added, by extending unemployment benefits, raising the minimum wage and enacting policies to stimulate job growth in highway construction and other infrastructure work, as well as helping prevent layoffs of teachers, police officers and firefighters.

Via: LA Times

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Labor Secretary Cheers Youth Unemployment Rate of 17.1 Percent

Labor Secretary Hilda Solis oversaw the signing Monday of agreements with Honduras, Peru, Ecuador and the Philippines to protect the rights of migrant workers in the U.S. (CNSNews.com/Penny Starr)

(CNSNews.com) – Labor Secretary Hilda Solis cheered a slight decline in the youth (16-24) unemployment rate, saying that it was a sign that the job market was improving for America’s young people.

“As young Americans all across the country prepare to head into a new school year, I'm excited to say that many more will take with them lessons learned through summer jobs,” Solis said Wednesday in apress release.

“It's no secret that the effects of the 2007 recession had a significant impact on job prospects for youth, but today's report showed positive signs that job prospects for young people picked up pace in 2012,” she said.

Solis’ statement marked the release of the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ annual youth unemployment report. Solis said that the report showed positive signs for young job seekers, noting that the youth unemployment rate had fallen to 17.1 percent over the past two years.