Economic gardening: A fresh paradigm for growing local jobs

Unemployment Lowest Since May 2009, as Fewer Look for Jobs
You can see that December had quite a drop. And here's how jobs have changed each month: Yet, you can also see that the number of jobs added to The Economy last month wasn't that impressive, especially considering the big decline in rate. Like last month, the variance here can be explained by understanding that there are two different surveys used by BLS. The "Household Survey" provides the Unemployment Rate and the "Establishment Survey" provides the number of jobs added or lost overall and i...

Economy adds 103,000 jobs in December; Unemployment rate drops
ECONOMY ADDS 103,000 JOBS IN DECEMBER; Unemployment Rate DROPS.... After last month's dismal jobs report reflecting a very weak employment picture in November, hopes were high that the data for December would be less discouraging. The good news is, conditions improved in the final month of 2010. The bad news is, the new jobs report points to growth that isn't good enough, and fell a little short of expectations. The United States economy ended the year by adding 103,000 jobs in December, the L...

Yes, Obama Winter continues: Unemployment rate falls to 9.4 percent
The December numbers are in, the nationwide Unemployment Rate fell to 9.4 percent from 9.8 percent. It's now at the Lowest Level in 19 months. But let's remember, when the Democrats were selling the their stimulus package two years ago, they said it would not exceed 8 percent. The Economy added 103,000 jobs last month, but forecasters had predicted 150,000 new jobs for December. The drop in the rate appears to be related to some workers giving up looking for work. Meanwhile, Federal Reserve Ch...

Speaking of Envy
To follow up on Enoch’s post from yesterday, let’s consider a couple of different points of view. And I mean really different. First, from Clinton crony Robert Reich, a bit of complaining about the demonization of Public Employee Unions. By the way, Mr. Reich, those “higher degrees” in education circles are bullshit. Wonder why so many diploma mills are giving masters in education? Because public School Teachers get a bump up in Salary by how many degrees they have. Ther...

Obama White House: Jobs news 'encouraging,' but some 'bumps' remain
A top White House economic adviser hailed the falling Unemployment Rate of 9.4% today, but also warned that some hard times remain before the U.S. fully recovers from a deep Recession. "The overall trend of economic data over the past several months has been encouraging, due in large part to the initiatives passed by this Administration, but we still have a ways to go," says Austan Goolsbee, who chairs the president's Council of Economic Advisers. President Obama discusses the new report from t...

US Unemployment Down
Still, the report was much better than November’s dismal data , and Unemployment now stands at its Lowest Level since May of 2009. Meanwhile, the “Underemployment rate” - a broader, more accurate measure of joblessness - slid from 17 percent to 16.7 percent. Meanwhile, a California-based portfolio manager said that “the drop in the Unemployment Rate has more to do with people dropping out of the Workforce versus strong momentum on the labor front.” Let&#...

Disappointing Job Report Means More QE2
From a reality slapped Associated Press: Unemployment Rate falls to 9.4 percent, hiring up By Christopher S. Rugaber, AP Economics Writer January 7, 2010 WASHINGTON - The nation’s Unemployment rate dropped to 9.4 percent last month, its Lowest Level in 19 months. That was because more people found jobs, but also because some people gave up on their job searches . What a stunning admission from the Associated Press. And it is especially shocking to see this in their lead paragraph. ...

Alcoa To Restart 3 Smelters, Including Massena
Alcoa today announced plans to restart idled potlines at three aluminum smelters in the United States, including Massena, creating approximately 260 new jobs through recall and hiring. The restarted facilities will increase Alcoa's aluminum production by 137,000 metric tons over the course of 2011 and by 200,000 metric tons on an annual basis thereafter, according to a Friday morning release from Alcoa. The Massena East plant, a former Reynolds Metals facility, produces 125,000 metric tons of...

Job creation weaker than expected. Jobless rate falls to 9.4%
Since November 2009, when new Job Creation first took a baby-step into positive territory after nearly two years of disastrous news for working Americans, there have been a lot of crossed fingers in the days before the Bureau of Labor Statistics releases its monthly employment report. Throughout the period, many analysts have repeatedly predicted that this time, this month, finally, we'd see a big breakthrough in the economic measurement that matters most to working Americans, or those who woul...

103,000 new jobs in December; unemployment down to 9.4 percent
December's jobs report has some good news, but not nearly enough of it. The Economy added 103,000 jobs -- a gain that was driven by the Private Sector adding 113,000 jobs but dragged down by the Public Sector shedding 10,000 jobs. The Unemployment Rate fell from 9.8 percent to 9.4 percent, partly because participation in the economy (i.e., the number of people looking for jobs) declined and partly because the jobs numbers for the past two months were revised upward by 70,000 jobs. To put this i...

Private-sector job growth
PRIVATE-SECTOR JOB GROWTH.... In the previous post, we talked about the new monthly jobs report, but following up on the tradition we started a few months ago, many of you have emailed to suggest it's time for a slightly different chart -- one showing just the Private Sector Job Market. For much of 2010, this was important because of the sharp differences we've seen between the private and Public Sectors. Most notably, the rise and fall of Census Bureau jobs can offer a skewed picture -- some ...

Sharp drop in jobless rate in Dec. to 9.4 percent
Economic agenda: Thursday, Jan. 6, 2011 At some point in the last couple of years--we would place it sometime after Lehman Brothers went down but before the automakers were bailed out--Washington became the financial capital of the world. "Now that we're all used to pre-nups, it's time to start thinking about Divorce Insurance: Ever had that sinking feeling that the person your friend is marrying is perfectly awful? Of course not, because you love everyone. But should it happen, you now can giv...

Health coverage expands among small businesses
GLADSTONE, Mo. — Major insurers are reporting that a growing number of small businesses are signing up to give their workers health benefits, a sign of potential progress for the nation's battered health-care system. An important selling point has been a Tax Credit that the new health-care law provides to companies with fewer than 25 employees and moderate-to-low pay scales to help offset the cost of providing benefits. The Tax Break is one of the few provisions to kick in early; much of...

Jerry Chautin: SBA's New Web Site Is a Clunker
The U.S. Small Business Administration has a cadre of talented and dedicated staff whose goal is to help small-business owners succeed. Yet, when it came to revamping its web site, it outsourced the contract to DRT Strategies, Inc. rather than designing it in house. In turn, the contractor, a Washington, D.C., Beltway "insider," subcontracted tasks to less-well connected companies. And $2,825,000 later, sba.gov launched its new face to the small-business community. "SBA Administrator Karen M...

Jerry Brown's talk of ending redevelopment sparks fears, cheers around California
Redevelopment has transformed San Jose, with an infusion of tax money that helped revitalize a dying downtown and turned former swampland along North First Street into a bustling high-tech corridor. In other communities, redevelopment dollars have built shopping centers, Affordable Housing and championship Golf Courses. But a Budget-reform proposal that new Gov. Jerry Brown is widely rumored to be weighing may end redevelopment statewide to free up more tax money for schools and other programs. ...

N.J. economic-recovery bills - including costly corporate tax change - advance easily
TRENTON - A proposed tax change intended to spur multistate corporations to invest more in New Jersey failed to win approval a decade ago when Republicans controlled State Government, and the same proposal had languished in the Legislature since Democrats came into power. But Thursday, the Assembly and Senate embraced with no opposition a change in the state's Corporate Tax formula championed by Gov. Christie on the Campaign Trail. The Legislature's devoting so much attention to business incenti...

Rich Tafel: A Bipartisan Strategy for Sharpening U.S. Foreign Aid
In the hyper-partisan pitched battles in the new Congress, between the Republican House and the Obama Administration, there's one area where both parties can join forces and help both America's workers, and our allies around the world -- foreign aid. America gives the bulk of our International Aid through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), but the agency lacks a clear focus. This year alone, USAID is proposing to "focus" on the following: USAID Forward (all seven points); t...

Is government growing?
Connolly said the notion that Federal Government is over sized is misplaced. "Facts be damned: There's a lot of Rhetoric on the other side about the growth of the federal Workforce, but it's about the size it was under the first President Bush," he said. "There hasn't really been a lot of net growth in the federal workforce when you compare it to say, 1990. It's not like it's gotten out of hand, it's true." There are two answers. On one hand, Connolly ...

Rep. Joe Courtney: On Day One, Republicans Cripple Construction Industry
It took just hours for the new Republican House majority to break their vows of transparency and Bipartisan cooperation. In the new rules they authored, Republicans exempted Budget-busting items like Health Care Repeal from their own pay-go requirements, and they took the Budget-writing process behind closed doors, consolidating it in their own hands. Without input from Democrats and without even an amendment process, they crafted a dangerous set of rules that threatens not just the way Congre...

Developer to head state agency managing growth
Tallahassee -- Gov. Rick Scott has appointed an executive of one of Florida's largest land development companies to oversee the State Department charged with managing growth. Billy Buzzett, vice president of the St. Joe Co., will take over the Department of Community Affairs, the state's land planning and community development agency that Scott is eager to overhaul. Scott's office issued a news release about the appointment Wednesday night. Scott also announced that former Secretary of State...

Getting Republicans Up to Speed
Submitted by findingavoice on Fri, 01/07/2011 - 10:00am. Among the repetitive assaults on the president’s integrity and the absurd questions about his national origin lies an inconvenient error in judgment on his part, that being an assumption that reasonable discourse and responsible governance would lead to national rapprochement and bi-partisan cooperation - - foolish novice that he was. Allowing the stimulus package to falter under the weight of Tax Cuts and go short on actual job-cre...

Michael Friedman, L.M.S.W.: Meeting the Mental Health Challenges of the Elder Boom
The elder boom has begun, and our nation is not prepared. Between 2011 and 2030, the number of adults 65 or older will increase from 40 million to 72 million and from 13 percent of the population to 20 percent. This drives growing concerns about the viability of Social Security, the sustainability of Medicare, and the availability of a Workforce to provide health and social services. Despite widespread concern about the physical health of older adults, Mental Health needs are mostly not on th...

Lowering the Unemployment Rate, One Discouraged Worker at a Time
The Unemployment Rate dropping from 9.8 percent to 9.4 percent is great news for the Obama Administration, or at least represents a great headline. But the deeper numbers aren’t nearly so cheery. The 104,000 jobs created is actually well below the 130,000 to 150,000 to 200,000 (depends on who you ask) needed per month to keep pace with Population Growth and new workers entering the Workforce. So how did it drop so low? Do you remember my video about “Discouraged Workers”? Fro...

Unemployment Drops to 9.4%
The national Unemployment Rate dropped from 9.8% to 9.4% in December, it's lowest level in nearly nine months. The Labor Department reported that The Economy added 103,000 jobs, while the agency also revised estimates from the two earlier months, reporting that 210,000 jobs were created in October instead of 172,000, and 71,000 in November, instead of 39,000. Federal, state and local governments continued to shed jobs -- cutting another 10,000 last month after trimming 8,000 in November, revised...

Illinois moves to tax online purchases, hits bloggers, small business
Internet Retailer today: Lawmakers in Illinois have voted for a 6.25% tax on online retail purchases. The levy, which still needs the Governor's approval, would apply to goods bought through affiliates of online Retailers that take in least $10,000 worth of annual sales in the state. Illinois Affiliate Tax Will Harm Small Businesses and Reduce Tax Revenue Tax Foundation here. Just got an email from Amazon: