In one of the best monthly economic report in years, unemployment in April dropped to 7.5 percent, a four-year low, as the U.S. economy added 165,000 jobs. But among African-Americans, the positive economic signs were almost invisible, as joblessness for them remained high, at 13.2 percent. The overall numbers were a welcome surprise since many [...]
Jobless Claims Reach Five-Year Low
January 27, 2013 | Posted by
It was a busy week in Washington. Within 24 hours of Republicans announcing an agreement to raise the nation’s $16.4 trillion debt limit, the U.S. Department of Labor released its latest employment report showing jobless claims falling to a five-year low. Jobless claims The latest jobless claims report shows the number of applications in the [...]
155,000 New Jobs Added, But Black Unemployment Rises
January 4, 2013 | Posted by
Finding work is still a major headache in the black community. December overall job growth numbers in the U.S. indicate an increase of about 155,000 new jobs, with the unemployment rate still at 7.8 percent. While these figures are similar to previous months, the black unemployment rate saw a significant increase, signaling a challenge for [...]
Metro Atlanta Unemployment Dips to 8% in November
December 27, 2012 | Posted by
The preliminary unemployment rate in metro Atlanta declined to 8.0 percent in November, down two-tenths of a percentage point from 8.2 percent in October. The rate was 8.9 percent in November 2011. The Georgia Department of Labor announced Thursday that the rate declined because of job growth and fewer new layoffs, represented by first time [...]
National Unemployment Rate Falls To 44-Month Low
October 5, 2012 | Posted by
The nation’s unemployment rate dropped sharply to 7.8 percent in September, its lowest level since the month President Obama took office, the Labor Department announced Friday. Employers added only a modest 114,000 jobs last month, but the jobless rate dipped from 8.1 percent in August. The unemployment rate fell because more people were working and [...]
Jobs Added, But Not Enough to Drive Down Unemployment Rate
August 4, 2012 | Posted by
The U.S. economy generated jobs last month at the fastest pace since February, a sign it is resilient enough to pull out of a midyear slump and grow modestly even as the rest of the world slows down. The 163,000 jobs employers added in July ended three months of weak hiring. But the surprising gains [...]
Jobs Report Encouraging to President, But Unemployment Still Rises
August 3, 2012 | Posted by
The July jobs report released today provided encouraging news for President Obama, with the economy adding more jobs than many analysts expected, but it also gave some fodder to Republican Mitt Romney as the unemployment rate ticked upward from 8.2 percent last month to 8.3 percent now. As expected, both campaigns pounced on the news, [...]
Robert Reich: If Jobs Don’t Improve, Obama Might Lose
July 12, 2012 | Posted by
Economist Robert Reich warns that President Obama’s re-election chances are going to be seriously imperiled if the number of new jobs doesn’t increase substantially after Labor Day. In a column on the Christian Science Monitor website, Reich, former Labor Secretary under President Clinton and current economics professor at Berkeley, said that Obama can no longer [...]
