Results tagged “joblosses”

Yesterday, the NY State Department of Labor revealed the state unemployment rate climbed to 7% in January, up from 6.6% in December. More troubling, 25% of the 400,000 jobs added between July 2003 (the state's last decline) and August 2008 were lost in the final months of 2008. Division of Research and Statistics. director Peter Neenan said the data "continue to underscore the severity of the steadily deepening recession in New York State." There are almost 500,000 New Yorkers collecting unemployment right now.

At the U.S. Conference of Mayors, a report revealed that New York City will lose the most jobs of any metropolitan areas. According to the AP, about 181,000 jobs will be gone from New York City in 2009; around 50,000 jobs will be lost from financial firms, which will continue to slash their payrolls in the wake of the credit crisis. Other cities that'll see a lot of unemployment: Los Angeles will lose an estimated 164,000, due to the cratering real estate market, while Miami and Chicago will lose around 80-85,000 jobs. However, there are some cities that'll see flat employment or a slight increase: "Ithaca, N.Y.; Fairbanks, Alaska; and St. George, Utah." At last check, the unemployment rate in NYC is 6.3% (November data), while the national unemployment rate is 6.7% (the rate for NY State is 6.1%; the rate for NY State excluding NYC is 5.9%).

The Labor Department offered up grim news today: "U.S. employers axed payrolls by a shocking 533,000 in November for the weakest performance in 34 years," according to CNBC. Additionally, the unemployment rate is now 6.7%, the highest since 1993 (and higher than the 6.5% measured in October). These numbers were far higher than what analysts were expecting.

Two separate reports show that monthly layoffs are at their highest level in almost seven years. CNBC reports that outplacement firm Challenger Gray & Christmas cites November job losses to be "181,671, up 61% from October and 148% higher than November 2007" while payroll company ADP says November job cuts were around 250,000. (Back in January 2002, layoffs were at 248,475.) And more are coming: In its takeover of Merrill Lynch, Bank of America may cut up to 30,000 jobs (they will cut at least 10,000), through layoffs, attrition, and sales of business units. With that news, stock futures are down.

More depressing news: State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli released a report saying 225,000 jobs in New York State could be lost over the next two years due to Wall Street's downturn. (Crain's New York reports, "New York City Comptroller William Thompson has predicted the city will lose 165,000 jobs, so the latest forecast by Mr. DiNapoli is the bleakest offered so far.") DiNapoli, whose reports also suggests $6.5 billion in city and state tax revenue could be lost from Wall Street, echoed Governor Paterson's request for federal help and added, "Top Wall Street executives ought to forgo bonuses during this difficult time; it's inappropriate to reward poor performance. But the public must keep in mind that bonuses paid to lower level employees are often used to purchase goods and services in other industries, which benefits the overall economy. New York will feel a lot pain from a shrunken bonus pool."

Job losses were greater than expected as the Labor Department announced that the unemployment rate is now at 6.1%, the highest in five years. Bloomberg reports, "The increase in the jobless rate sent the misery index, which adds unemployment to inflation, to 11.7 percent, the highest level since 1991." In total, "2.2 million Americans have lost their jobs over the past year. Experts are divided about whether this is a recession, but it's definitely an election issue. John McCain said, “Americans are hurting and we must act to create jobs," while Barack Obama said, "Today’s jobs report is a reminder of what’s at stake in this election." [Thumbnail image from this detailed NY Times graphic about the "Labor Picture in August."]