Unemployment Rate Remains Disproportionately Higher for African-Americans (They Voted for Obama, so no complaints)
Unemployment and job loss figures released for August 2009 by the U.S. Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics did not hold any promise for economic recovery reaching American households soon.
While the number of jobs lost in August was down – a sign pointed to as evidence the recession is turning around – there was an increase in the number of people claiming unemployment. That figure jumped to 9.7 percent for all workers, up .3 percent from July and the highest level recorded in more than two decades.
The August bump was driven by increases in the jobless rates for adult men, Whites and Hispanics, but unemployment rates for African-Americans grew faster than those for the subgroups of adult men and Whites. The increase for Hispanics, seasonally adjusted, climbed 0.7 percent, to 13 percent for August.
The overall unemployment rate for African-Americans increased 0.6 percent from July to 15.1 percent. The rate for adult Black males increased 1.2 percent to 17 percent and the rate for adult Black females increased only 0.2 percent to 11.9 percent.
The Economic Policy Institute’s Job Pictures report, released monthly after the Bureau of Labor’s monthly statistics, indicates “this recession continues to shatter all records related to length of unemployment spells.” According to the report, 5 million of the workers currently unemployed have been without work for over six months, equivalent to approximately 3.2 percent of the labor force.
“Although the employment data released [Sept. 4] clearly show that the pace of layoffs is slowing, these unemployment data also shows equally clearly that unemployed workers are still not finding jobs,” the report stated.
The recession is also taking its toll on government positions. Municipalities continue to tighten their belts as a result of decreasing tax revenues, and the budget cuts decrease services and the number of available positions. The EPI report notes that 5,000 federal, 5,000 state and 8,000 local government jobs were lost in August. The federal jobs lost include 8,500 postal workers downsized.
While families and communities are not directly benefiting from stimulus spending, experts contend the situation would be worse if the large federal package had not gone through.
“Our interventions have contributed to significant cuts in the rate of job loss,” said Jared Bernstein, the top economic adviser to Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. in an interview with the New York Times. “We’re headed in the right direction, but we’re far from out of the woods. There are simply too many Americans seeking work.”
The EPI report suggests Congress extend unemployment benefits for the approximately 500,000 workers that will use up all their benefits by the end of September.
Read more at Afro
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(Continued from last post)
Gov. Jeb Bush killed funding for the project, because the state at the time couldn’t find the funds to finance it, but leave it to a “RINO” to think of himself first.
Local “RINO” businessman C.C. Dockery, (husband of Rep. Paula Dockery) who spent $3,000,000 of his own money, (or money he weasled from friends), promoting the project because he owns property next to where the rail system would operate, instituted a campaign for a constitutional amendment in 2000 to construct a high-speed rail project for Central Florida. All paid for with public money, of course. And so, in the worst economy in history, these jacka**es are pushing this forward.
While there is a need for certain things, (that are just too expensive for other financing), to be financed by the government, a “BOONDOGGLE” that no one will ride is ludicris. And, despite the fact that the distances from city to city in Central Florida doesn’t mesh with a “high-speed rail system” which won’t stop at major attractions such as Disney. I mean, why should I ride a train from anywhere in Florida, when I would have to first drive to the nearest station, park my vehicle, ride the train to my destination, then rent a vehicle for my use, then do it all again, but in reverse.
These people are unbelievable!
Great article - we need to get the word out about the unemployment rate even with the stimulus package. At some point we are going to write an article and make a video that goes into the details of how to best prepare for unemployment. Again great article.
You would think that municipal belt-tightening would extend to pet projects in this economy as well. But that doesn’t seem to bother the “high-speed rail” “RINO” supporters in Central Florida. This depite funding being killed several times by Gov. Jeb Bush when he was in office.
Local “RINO” C.C.