4-16-09, 10:35 am
As steam from President Obama's economic stimulus plan builds in the states and new investments in infrastructure and job-saving programs start to flow, do the latest data from the Department of Labor suggest that the dismal unemployment situation may be turning a corner?
According to statistics released today, April 16, initial jobless claims for the week ending April 11 unemployment benefits decreased over the previous week by 53,000 to 610,000. This means that 610,000 newly laid-off people filed for unemployment benefits this past week. The good news is that it is lower than the previous two week periods and the lowest since March 28th. The moving four-week average fell by about 8,500, the DOL reported.
In the month of March, the unemployment rate jumped to a 25-year high of 8.5 percent after the economy shed more than 660,000 jobs. Since the beginning of the recession in December 2007, more than 6 million jobs have been lost.
For the second straight week, California led the way in creating or keeping jobs as initial unemployment benefits fell by over 4,700 over the previous week. Ohio, Alabama, Florida and Wisconsin also saw such claims fall by between 1,000 and 2,800.
Michigan led the way with new unemployment claims, adding more than 5,400, or nearly 10,000 new unemployment claims in just the past two weeks. Missouri, Texas, New Jersey and Pennsylvania followed hard on its heels.
According to data provided by both states, job cuts in auto and the manufacturing sector generally caused the sharpest declines in those states, except in Texas where layoffs in finance, information, trade and service industries were responsible for most new unemployment claims.
State and local governments are anxious to launch new infrastructure projects and pay down budget shortfalls with federal economic stimulus. New projects on roads, bridges, railways and airports slated for the next few weeks and months, along with new financing for public schools, environmental clean-up projects and federal parks and buildings renovations is expected to create or save thousands of jobs.
This week the Obama administration announced the approval of the 2,000th infrastructure project, but so far no estimates have been given for how many of these projects have already begun. The Department of Transportation estimates that most will get into full swing by the summer.
New rhetoric by Gov. Rick Perry (R-Texas) may pose problems for his state's ability to realize faster economic recovery, however. On April 9th, he signed a bill declaring Texas sovereignty as part of his bid to appeal to hard-right Republicans in his bid to keep his seat in that's state's upcoming elections. He denounced influence from Washington, suggesting he might refuse further federal economic aid.
The worsening jobs picture prompted the AFL-CIO last week to launch a new Web site designed to help unemployed workers find the resources they need to survive in the recession. The Unemployment Lifeline, as the site is called, provides information on local aid for unemployment compensation benefits, child care, medical care, utility assistance and more. It also links workers to political action on such issues as passing the Employee Free Choice Act, universal health care reform and more.
Economists warn that good signs from an indicator such as a weekly jobless claim report should be taken with a grain a salt. Such reports are often revised, are only a snapshot of a given moment, and do not yet indicate trends. Further, while the newest numbers suggest a downward move in unemployment claims, the numbers of newly unemployed people remain alarmingly large.
