Wednesday, U.S. Rep. Ed Perlmutter’s office hosted a gathering of MoveOn.org enthusiasts and Perlmutter asked them to gather signatures for a petition to be presented to House Speaker John Boehner, asking for job creation legislation.
Gov. Rick Perry delivered his signature anti-Washington, states’ rights rhetoric to a packed theater at the National Conference for State Legislatures in San Antonio Wednesday, lauding Texas as the “epicenter of job growth,” pointing to 40 percent increase of new U.S. jobs created in the state as proof.
The Federal Reserve’s policy committee, the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), met Tuesday and voted on what course of action they would take with respect to U.S. monetary policy in the coming months. Their statement reflects the commonly-held perception that the recovery from the Great Recession has stagnated:
The Bureau of Labor Statistics released the monthly jobs report, showing few gains in the private sector while government payrolls continue to shrink. For the month of June, 18,000 jobs were created, good for an unemployment rate of 9.2 percent. Since March, 545,000 Americans joined the ranks of the unemployed, with the unemployment rate increasing by .4 points.
Just when the weekly unemployment claims were starting to go back down after a 3 week spike, this week’s new claims jumped up to 424,000. That’s 10,000 more than last week. The four-week average now stands at 438,500.
New unemployment claims this week dropped to 409,000 according to the latest Department of Labor report, but that’s still too high to allow any serious progress in reducing the unemployment rate. The four-week average of 439,000 is the highest since November of last year.
Unfortunately, this is not a repeat from last week. Or the week before. The latest report on weekly unemployment claims from the Department of Labor shows a sharp jump in new claims, from 431,000 to 474,000, the third straight week with an unexpected increase.
The new ADP National Employment Report, which measures only private, non-farm jobs and not government jobs, says that the economy produced 211,000 new private jobs in the past month.
There’s a bit of good news on the economic front as the latest report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows a decline in initial unemployment claims to 385,000, a drop of 16,000 from the previous week.
Bill McBride of the Calculated Risk blog explains why the participation rate — the percentage of Americans either working or actively seeking a job — is crucial in determining how far and how fast the unemployment rate drops.
Do you know where to vote on Election Day? Do you know what to bring with you? Get comprehensive voter information for your state here.
rss