http://news.yahoo.com/s/a...fi/economy

WASHINGTON – New claims for unemployment benefits jumped last week to a 16-year high, the Labor Department said Thursday, providing more evidence of a rapidly weakening job market expected to get even worse next year.

The government said new applications for jobless benefits rose to a seasonally adjusted 542,000 from a downwardly revised figure of 515,000 in the previous week. That's much higher than Wall Street economists' expectations of 505,000, according to a survey by Thomson Reuters.

That is also the highest level of claims since July 1992, the department said, when the U.S. economy was coming out of a recession.

The four-week average of claims, which smooths out fluctuations, was even worse: it rose to 506,500, the highest in more than 25 years.

In addition, the number of people continuing to claim unemployment insurance rose sharply for the third straight week to more than 4 million, the highest since December 1982, when the economy was in a painful recession.

Those figures partly reflect growth in the labor force, which has increased by about half since the early 1980s. The percentage of workers who receive unemployment benefits — which is different from the unemployment rate — increased to 3 percent, the highest since June 2003. Less than half of unemployed workers receive unemployment insurance.

The figures likely will cause some economists to increase their projections for the unemployment rate this year. Many already expect unemployment to reach 7 percent by early next year and 8 percent by the end of 2009.

The rate in October was 6.5 percent, and last year the rate averaged 4.6 percent.

The Federal Reserve on Wednesday released projections that the jobless rate will climb to between 7.1 percent and 7.6 percent next year, according to documents from the Fed's Oct. 29 closed-door deliberations on interest rate policy.

Initial claims have been driven higher in the past several months by a slowing economy hit by the financial crisis, and cutbacks in consumer and business spending.

Economists consider jobless claims a timely, if volatile, indication of how rapidly companies are laying off workers. Employees who quit or are fired for cause are not eligible for benefits.

Several companies announced mass layoffs in the past week, including Citigroup Inc., Union Pacific Corp. and Sun Microsystems Inc.

yes...with Michigan and Rhode Island the two highest rates of unemployment in the nation...

MICHIGAN 8.7
RHODE ISLAND 8.8

http://money.cnn.com/pf/f...mployment/

Scary times.

applekisses said:

It's only going to get worse.

Perino: Bush would sign jobless benefits extension

WASHINGTON – With weekly jobless claims benefits at a 16-year high, the White House said Thursday that President George W. Bush would quickly sign legislation pending in Congress to provide further unemployment benefits.

The Senate this week is expected to take up a bill, already passed by the House, that would extend unemployment insurance checks for up to 13 additional weeks for jobless people whose benefits have run out. The Senate vote could occur as early as Thursday evening and would require support from 60 senators to pass.

White House press secretary Dana Perino, discussing the worsening economic environment, said Bush is "always concerned" when people lose their jobs and is eager to help.

More than 1.2 million jobs have been lost so far this year and the civilian jobless rate is at a 14-year high of 6.5 percent of the labor force.

The White House earlier had threatened to veto a much broader, $61 billion stimulus bill that included aid to help states maintain Medicaid benefits and new spending for public works projects, in addition to the jobless benefit extension.

Bush's advisers had taken no position on the stand-alone jobless benefits bill costing about $6 billion, other than to say they were firmly opposed to Democratic efforts this week to combine it with a $25 billion bailout of the auto industry that would be drawn from the financial rescue package.

Republicans blocked Senate consideration of the unemployment aid bill in October, but that was before a nearly quarter million additional layoffs that month. The Senate vote occurs at a time when the economy is taking its worst beating in a quarter century.

"The recent financial and credit crisis has slowed the economy, and it's having an impact on job creation," Perino said. "The president is always concerned when anybody loses their job and wants to ensure that anybody who wants to work can find employment."

Perino's statement came after the Labor Department reported that claims for unemployment benefits jumped last week to the highest level since July 1992 when the U.S. economy was emerging from a recession. The report provided more evidence of a rapidly weakening job market that expected to get even worse next year.

The House bill would provide seven additional weeks of payments to those who have exhausted their benefits. Those in states where the unemployment rate is above 6 percent would be entitled to an additional 13 weeks above the 26 weeks of regular benefits. The benefit checks average about $300 a week nationwide.

Without the legislation, the authors say, 1.1 million people will have exhausted their unemployment insurance benefits by the end of the year.

Congress has enacted federally funded extensions seven times in the past 50 years during economic slumps — in 1958, 1961, 1972, 1975, 1982, 1991 and 2002.

The House also voted in June to extend unemployment benefits for three months, but that bill stalled in the face of opposition from Senate Republicans and a White House veto threat.

The Bush administration contends that past extensions occurred only when the unemployment rate was considerably higher and that it was fiscally irresponsible to provide extra benefits in states with low unemployment.

Unemployment insurance is a joint program between states and the federal government that is almost completely funded by employer taxes, either state or federal.

applekisses said:

It is awful here in RI. I am so lucky to have a job...SO lucky.

CarrieLee said:

I was thinking about you after I posted that. I feel the same way here.

applekisses said:

Cleveland, Ohio is too. We were recently named "The Second Poorest City". Which does not surprise me in the least.

I know so many people who have lost good paying, high skilled jobs in the last year that its not even funny. I glad Im in health care.

dreamfactory313 said:

Healthcare is not exactly safe either. I work in healthcare and people were laid off this morning.


Smooches;)

MsMisha319 said:

Well, I did hear of pendng massive paycuts and layoffs at Beaumont. Is that where you work?

dreamfactory313 said:

No

Smooches;)

dreamfactory313 said:

They're laying off 500 people. St. Mary's in Livonia has laid people off too and there are rumors all over the place. I think Botsford is in ok shape.

Because of the autos none of us in Michigan are safe right now.

Hate To Say It But Wal-Mart Is The Best Job Right Now

The part that ought to scare us is this:

Almost every single week, the jump in claims is higher than was expected.

All the economists are missing the mark as to how bad things are.

yeah, it is bad. I was laid-off for almost 2 years from a nice paying job. I am working now,but i am not making what i used to make just enough to pay the the bills,mortage,and put food on the table. but i am still looking for something better. just have to have FAITH.

carlluv said:

Good luck.

applekisses said:

Things are so bad around here. If the Big 3 dont get somekind of help it will be a catastrophe.