Claims for unemployment benefits at lowest point since early 2008
Claims for unemployment benefits plunge 30,000
The number of Americans seeking unemployment aid plummeted to 339,000 last week, the lowest level in more than four years. The sharp drop, a shocker to analysts and investors, offered a hopeful sign that the job market could be picking up. The Labor Department says weekly applications fell by 30,000 to the lowest level since February 2008.Simon Owens is an assistant managing editor at U.S. News & World Report. Follow him on Twitter, Facebook, or Google+. Email him at sowens@usnews.com
This infographic comes to us via FactCheck.org, which describes it as “an accurate statistical picture of key changes that occurred since Obama took office in January 2009.”
How to mislead with statistics to make the economy seem worse than it actually is
Today In Dishonest Fox News Graphics
During a segment criticizing the Obama administration for its messaging on the economy, a Fox & Friends graphic claimed that the “real unemployment rate” had increased from 7.8% in 2009 to 14.7% now. But in order to make the claim that unemployment had increased from 7.8% to 14.7% during Obama’s time in office, Fox had to conflate two different statistics and completely distort Obama’s jobs record. The 7.8 percent figure is the official unemployment rate from January 2009. This statistic reports on people who are unemployed and actively looking for a job. But as of the latest report, the official unemployment rate is 8.1 percent (0.3 percent higher than it was in January 2009), not 14.7 percent. The 14.7 percent figure is a completely different measurement of the unemployed, which in addition to those who are actively looking for work, also counts people who are unemployed and discouraged from looking for a new job, part-time workers who prefer full-time employment, and more. This alternative measure of unemployment, which conservatives often call the “real” unemployment rate, was 14.2 percent in January 2009 — 0.5 percentage points lower than it is today.
Simon Owens is an assistant managing editor at U.S. News & World Report. Follow him on Twitter, Facebook, or Google+. Email him at sowens@usnews.com
With No Jobs at Home, Some Americans Look Overseas
Gregory says he chose to travel to South Korea to teach English. According to the report, he said: “It’s the easiest way for me to put my education to use, get government-supported health care, a pension, and earn a living wage. And I’m not the only one. There are thousands of us here in Korea. And thousands more in Japan, China, Europe, the Middle East, and South America. All of us young, healthy, and well-educated. But for many of us, the best way to find a steady job or pay off a student loan is to leave America. People like me should be teaching English in America, helping Americans, and paying American taxes.”
While More Men Are Finding Work, Women Continue to Lose Jobs
Some economists began to refer to the depths of the recession as a “mancession,” since the bulk of the jobs lost were among men in male-dominated industries such as construction and manufacturing. During the recession (defined as December 2007 to June 2009), the economy shed more than 7 million jobs. Men fared worse in the recession, suffering more than 70 percent of the job losses. But strikingly, in the midst of a slow recovery, women have lost 117,000 jobs while men gained 1,140,000—a staggering difference of about a million jobs.
After months of disappointing figures, February met expectations for employment gains, adding 192,000 jobs, the Labor Department reported. But while job seekers may see any upward trend as reason to celebrate, economists cautioned the job market still has a long way to go in this recovery.
“This feels good, but it’s really not getting at the problem yet,” says Al Angrisani, former Assistant Secretary of Labor, who now works with distressed companies. “We’re not creating enough jobs to really drive a long-term reduction in the unemployment rate.”
8 Strategies for Coping With Job Loss
From journaling to volunteering, there are ways to dampen the emotional pain of losing your job.
