''Contagion: when unions and employers can’t agree, businesses fail''

From Illinois Policy Institute
By Hilary Gowins

''When unions can’t work with employers in the private sector, companies go under. Hostess Brands Inc. is the most recent case in point, announcing that it will close its doors because of financial insolvency.

Hostess has filed for bankruptcy twice since 2004, most recently this January. The company has an annual revenue of $2 billion, but it also has almost $2 billion in unfunded pension liabilities. Despite this, members of the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union began striking last week over 8 percent wage cuts.''

read more 

''Full Employment Not Expected Until After the Next Presidential Election''

From The New American

''After parsing the unemployment report that was issued by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) on Friday, November 2nd, two scholars at the Heritage Foundation, Rea Hederman and James Sherk, concluded that at the present jobs growth rate it could take another five years for a full jobs recovery to occur from the Great Recession. That would place the recovery after the next presidential election in 2016, and nearly ten years after the start of the recession in December 2007.''

read more 

''Siemens Sketches Savings Efforts as Job Cuts Said to Reach 8,000''

From BusinessWeek

''Siemens AG (SIE) outlined an efficiency plan focused on cost cuts and weeding out laggard businesses, as Chief Executive Officer Peter Loescher seeks to turn around the engineering company after goals for this year slipped.

The program will review Siemens’s marketing approach, simplify processes, eliminate redundant functions and examine units not meeting profit expectations, the Munich-based company said today. The plan will run for two years, and Loescher will provide an update next month when Siemens reports earnings.''

read more 

''U.S. Jobs Lies, Damned Lies and the 7.8% Unemployment Rate''

From Market Oracle
By John Williams

''Shadowstats.com Author John Williams wonders if politics are at play behind the latest jobs report, which shows 114,000 new U.S. jobs since September and a 0.3% drop in unemployment since August. Investors need to know how seasonal factors and month-to-month volatility affect the Bureau of Labor Statistics' reports. In this exclusive interview with The Gold Report , Williams explains why he doubts that we are in a recovery. The take-away? Look at the unadjusted figures before you sell your gold.''

read more 

''Youth unemployment in 17 of the G20 countries stands at over 16%''

From MercoPress

''According to the latest available G 20 data youth unemployment in Australia, Germany, Japan, Korea and Mexico stood at 8% to 11%; In Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Russia, Turkey and the US, 15% to 18%; In France, Indonesia and the UK, 21% to 23% and 35% to 52% in Italy, South Africa and Spain. (The stats do not include China, India or Saudi Arabia).''

read more 

''Unemployment Still High, Not for Government Workers''

From The New American

''While a record number of Americans are not currently in the labor force, according to the Department of Labor, unemployment for government workers drops to 5.1 percent, the lowest among all industries.

In a report issued by the Department of Labor, the number of Americans counted as “not in the civilian labor force” in the month of August reached a record high figure of 88,921,000.''

read more 

''Real Unemployment Rate Hits 11.7% As Spread Between Reported And Propaganda Data Hits Record''

From ZeroHedge

''Today's reported unemployment rate: 8.1%. The reason: the labor "participation" dropped to a 31 year low 63.5% as reported earlier. Of course, this number is pure propaganda, and makes no sense for one simple reason: despite the economic collapse started in December 2007, the US civilian non-institutional population since then has grown by 186,000 people every month on average hitting an all time high of 243,566,000 in August.''

read more 

''Egypt's unemployment rate hits record high in second quarter''

From Ahram Online

''The national unemployment rate rose to 12.6 per cent in the second quarter of 2012 up from 11.8 per cent for the same quarter last year, Egypt's official statistics agency CAPMAS reported on Tuesday.

According to CAPMAS, the total number of unemployed Egyptians currently stands at 3.395 million, more than a quarter of whom have recently lost their jobs.''

read more 

Spain: ''Unemployment tragedy, ''they robbed our future''

From Ansamed

''Spain's unemployed reached 5,693,100 in the second trimester, the highest figure since Franco's dictatorship, according to the national statistics bureau. One in 4 Spaniards, or 24.6% of the adult population, is out of work. In Andalusia, that rate is 33.9% and in the Canaries, 33.3%. The city of Ceuta, which is the Spanish enclave in Morocco, has the highest rate of unemployment in the EU-27, or 39%.''

read more 

''John Williams on the Real Unemployment Numbers''

From Silver Doctors

ShadowStat’s John Williams was interviewed by Fox Business regarding the REAL state of the economy. 

Williams states that actual unemployment (as used to be calculated prior to the adjustments) is up to 22%!

Those who are not ShadowStats subscribers can get free access to William’s work with his full MUST WATCH report to Fox Business.''

watch video & read more 

 

''Global unemployment to remain high until 2013'': OECD

From Business Spectator

''The unemployment rate in advanced world economies will remain high at nearly eight per cent until the end of next year with about 48 million people jobless, the OECD says.

The "joblessness rate is forecast to remain high at 7.7 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2013, close to the 7.9 per cent rate in May 2012," a report by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development said.''

read more 

''Where Are the Missing 5 Million Workers? In the Underground Economy''

From AlterNet

''So, where have all the workers gone? Have they retired, suspended their labors temporarily or are they languishing on public assistance? asks Wessel.

There are some other possibilities. Since the crash of 2008, there’s no question that millions of Americans have indeed stopped looking for a job. But that doesn’t necessarily mean they’re not working. Look around, it’s much more likely that the officially “unemployed” are busy, doing their best to make ends meet in whatever ways they can. Sex work, drugs and crime spring to mind, but the underground or “shadow” economy includes all sorts of off-the-books toil. From baby-sitting, bartering, mending, kitchen-garden farming and selling goods in a yard sale, all sorts of people—from the tamale seller on your corner, to the dancer who teachers yoga—are all contributing to the underground economy along with the “employed” who pay them for their wares.''

read more 

41.6%-''The Real Unemployment Rate''

From New American

''The nominal unemployment rate is still high, but the real jaw-dropping fact is the number of working-age Americans who are not working. Today that is 100,000,000 Americans out of a total population of about 310,000,000. Demographically, about 80,000,000 Americans are minors and about 40,000,000 are age 65 or older. That leaves approximately 190,000,000 Americans who are adults of working age. About half of those do not have a full-time job.

''When those “Not in the labor force” are adding to those “Unemployed,” then those who are not working is growing: 99.5 million in April 2011, 100.3 million in February 2012, 100.5 million in March 2012, and 100.9 million in April 2012. When counting both those “Not in the labor force” (though in the age in which most Americans work) and “Unemployed” as a single group, then those who are not working, but are in the age group in which Americans normally work, has remained steady and high: 41.6 percent in April 2011, 41.5 percent in February 2012, 41.5 percent in March 2012, and 41.6 percent in April 2012.

All of this strongly suggests that large numbers of Americans want and need more income and that they are looking for jobs. And yet the 42 percent of Americans who are of working age are not working. Despite trillions of dollars spent on “shovel-ready” jobs, the jobs are conspicuous by their absence.''

read more 

Italy: ''Unemployment hits 12-year high as recession worsens''

From Adnkronos

''Italian unemployment in April rose to its highest level in 12 years as companies laid off workers amid a deepening recession for the European-Union's fourth-biggest economy.

Joblessness among Italy's youth, defined as workers between 15-24 years old, was 35.2 percent in April, a 0.8 percent decline from March but 7.9 percent more than April 2011.

Italy is in its fourth recession since 2001 and banks have cut loans to businesses and individuals. Almost 12,000 businesses closed their doors in 2011, while some 3,000 Italian filed for bankruptcy during the first three months of the year, according to economic reports.'' 

read more 

Pat Buchanan: ''As the Boomers Head for the Barn''

From Pat Buchanan

''Here is a major cause of the economic malaise of the 21st century, a condition over which a president has little control. A shrinking share of our population is carrying an ever-expanding army of dependents.

If this were a result of American women going home to have kids, that would be, as it was after World War II, a manifestation of national vigor and health.

But that is not the case here.''

read more 

''An estimated 196 million people were unemployed worldwide at the end of last year''

From Reuters



"In advanced countries, especially in Europe, employment is not expected to return to pre-crisis levels of 2008 until the end of 2016 -- two years later than it previously predicted -- in line with a slowdown in production.


An estimated 196 million people were unemployed worldwide at the end of last year, forecast to rise to 202 million in 2012 for a rate of 6.1 percent, according to the United Nations agency's annual flagship report, "World of Work Report 2012."

read more 

''US college grads confront the dead end of the profit system''

From WSWS

"Amid endless claims of economic recovery by the Obama administration and the media, the conditions facing the working class in the United States continue to deteriorate. This is seen nowhere more clearly than in the fate of young people, who confront a future of unemployment, low-paying jobs and perpetual debt.

The Associated Press reported Sunday that more than half (53.6 percent) of all four-year college graduates under 25 in the US are either unemployed or underemployed—that is, without a job or working at a job that does not require their degree. This is the highest percentage since records began being kept 11 years ago."

read more 

''Rep. Duncan Hunter Wants BLS to Report Real Unemployment Rate''

From New American

"Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.) is renewing his push for legislation that would amend how the federal government assesses the U.S. unemployment rate. When calculating national unemployment, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) currently omits those individuals who have given up looking for work, making the overall joblessness rate appear substantially lower than it actually is.

If the government were to measure unemployment based on Hunter’s calculation, unemployment would spike from the current 8.3-percent rate to 9.6 percent — which critics say will further debase the Obama administration’s already paling record on jobs and economic growth." 

read more 

Zero Hedge: "US Needs To Generate 262K Jobs Each Month To Get Back To Breakeven''

From Zero Hedge

"Nothing too crazy: the country just has to create 262,000 jobs every month for the remainder of Obama's first, and now, by the looks of it, second term too. We are quite confident he can handle it."

read more 

''Youth unemployment passes 50pc in Spain and Greece''

From The Telegraph


"The unemployment rate among Spain's under-25s rose to 50.5pc in January, and to 50.4pc in Greece in December, according to the latest available data from Eurostat, the European Union's statistics office. It compared with an average eurozone youth unemployment rate of 21.6pc. One of the lowest rates of youth unemployment is in Germany, where it remained at 8.2pc in February."


read more