Chris Christie's NJ hits 35 year high for unemployment

Tell us more about the New Jersey economic miracle, Governor Christie.

New Jersey’s unemployment rate jumped to a 35-year high of 9.8 percent in July, the state Labor Department said.

The rate climbed from 9.6 percent in June and is above the national level of 8.3 percent, which also increased last month. New Jersey lost 12,000 jobs in July, with the largest drops in manufacturing, construction, and professional and business services, the department said in a statement today.

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Job openings up in May

Clearly the Republicans are not going to like this positive news. Since they're more concerned about scuppering the economy, they're going to have to think of a new plan to extend the misery for Americans.

The number of positions waiting to be filled climbed by 195,000 to 3.64 million, partially countering the 294,000 drop seen in April, the Labor Department said today in Washington. Another report showed confidence among small companies slumped in June.

Increasing demand for workers indicates some companies see an opportunity to expand as sales improve. At the same time, the report showed firings also picked up, indicating the European debt crisis and slowing growth in emerging markets like China may be prompting some employers to cut back.

“The labor market still looks pretty tenuous,” said Michael Feroli, chief U.S. economist at JPMorgan Chase & Co. in New York. The April report “sent some worrying signals that maybe things were in free fall. You have the May report and you can see businesses were turning a bit more cautious, but they weren’t completely pulling back.”

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California approves high speed rail

The Republicans don't like it because it means jobs and money in the pockets of the middle class rather than the 0.1%. Working families terrify Republicans, thus their consistent voting record.

California lawmakers gave final approval to a high-speed rail plan on Friday in a make-or-break vote for $8 billion in funding to start construction on a 130-mile (210-km) section of track through the state's central agricultural heartland.

The 21-16 vote in the state Senate was a substantial win for Democratic Governor Jerry Brown, who says a bullet train network will boost job creation and provide an alternative to car and plane travel in the country's most populous state.

Unions also lobbied hard for the network, the most ambitious public works project to date in California. Republicans opposed it, saying the $68 billion project would be a massive financial burden that could jeopardize state spending on basic services such as education and healthcare.

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GOP Rep. Brady overlooks Bush jobs failure, calls Obama "dead last"

Ah, no, that would be the Bush years where the Republicans dominated Washington for 6 of the 8 years in office. While everyone knows a clown like Larry Kudlow won't be able to recognize reality, the truth is, Rep. Brady is completely wrong. During the full term, Bush only averaged 20,000 jobs per month so if my math is correct, that would be dead last. More from CNBC:

With a report showing lower-than-expected number of new jobs added to the U.S. economy last month, President Obama has come to preside over a recovery that is “dead last in the modern era,” Texas Congressman Kevin Brady said Friday on CNBC.

“This is more than just a bad month or the worst quarter in two years. President Obama, which had ranked dead last in economic growth in the past seven years, with today’s job report also ranks dead last when it comes to job creation,” he said on “The Kudlow Report.”

“In fact, his growth is about half of what we’ve come to expect in these recessions,” he added. “And it pales, obviously, of course, to those of President Reagan, whose job growth was 2½ times greater at this same point.”

Oh, and can Republicans stop slobbering over Reagan? The guy wouldn't even fit in today's GOP yet people like Brady still have raging hardons for the guy. Move on boys and stop looking to the past that wasn't all that great in the first place. Read the rest of this post...

80,000 new jobs in June, unemployment holds steady

The number of new jobs is still well above the Bush average, but still not enough to put a dent in unemployment. Imagine what would be possible if the GOP was more focused on helping to create jobs rather than obstructing?

The U.S. economy created just 80,000 jobs in June and the unemployment rate held steady at 8.2 percent, reflecting continued slow growth in the economy with the presidential election just four months away.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics said private payrolls increased 84,000, while the government lost 4,000 jobs. Economists expected job growth of about 100,000 and the unemployment rate to be unchanged, though many had increased their forecasts based on some recent indicators.

With yet another month of weak employment growth, the second quarter marks the weakest three-month period in two years.

On the positive side, the May numbers were increased to 77,000 new jobs. Read the rest of this post...

Romney upset that economy improving, tells governors to stop talking about it

Because the truth is not always convenient for the Republicans.

Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign asked Florida Governor Rick Scott to tone down his statements heralding improvements in the state’s economy because they clash with the presumptive Republican nominee’s message that the nation is suffering under President Barack Obama, according to two people familiar with the matter.

Scott, a Republican, was asked to say that the state’s jobless rate could improve faster under a Romney presidency, according to the people, who asked not to be named.

What’s unfolding in Florida highlights a dilemma for the Romney campaign: how to allow Republican governors to take credit for economic improvements in their states while faulting Obama’s stewardship of the national economy. Republican governors in Ohio, Virginia, Michigan and Wisconsin also have highlighted improving economies.

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Job openings decline sharply

Americans should expect more cooperation from the political class but that's not likely to happen in the middle of an election cycle. There are options out there such as the jobs bill that the GOP is blocking or another stimulus, but the Republicans are much more interested in damaging the economy so they can increase their chances of winning in November.

Although private industry is enjoying record profits, they're not hiring and won't hire until there is a stronger recovery. We can see from the UK and Europe that austerity is not the answer but that message hasn't made it through to the Republicans who believe that it's working well.

One of these days the GOP is going to have to step up and do something about jobs instead of obstructing. Why can't they think of all Americans rather than just the 1%?

The Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, or JOLTS, indicated 3.4 million job openings at the end of April, an 8 percent decline from the previous month.

The pace of total hiring also slowed, with 160,000 fewer jobs filled during the month.

Moreover, the drop showed weakness across the employment spectrum, with manufacturing seeing 62,000 fewer job openings and construction dropping by 2,000.

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House GOP determined to kill jobs bill and economy

The obstructionist GOP is doing it again. They have zero interest in doing anything that will help Americans work because they're much more interested in damaging the economy for political reasons. It's not possible to negotiate with them because they don't want to negotiate anything.

They may love to wrap themselves in the flag but underneath, they really do hate America. There's no other reason why they wouldn't be running to sign a bill that had strong support in the Senate since it's tied to 1.9 million jobs. Think Progress has more on the latest disgusting move by House Republicans.

It should noted that Representative John Mica, known for caring more about pork than national security, is part of the obstructionist movement. So unless the 1.9 million workers are going to fund his campaign, they're probably out of luck. Read the rest of this post...

Surprise increase in jobless claims

Maybe now is a good time for the GOP to stop their politics of destruction and think about the American public for once. We need a new jobs bill that gets workers working and not another round of tax cuts. (Looking at you, Bill Clinton.)

We have an infrastructure that is in desperate need of work and plenty of workers wanting to work. What's so hard about understanding this problem and then fixing it? Get a jobs bill and get it now because private industry is not going to fill in the gaps any time soon.

More Americans than forecast applied for unemployment insurance payments last week, another sign the labor market is struggling to improve.

Claims for jobless benefits unexpectedly climbed by 6,000 to 386,000 in the week ended June 9 from a revised 380,000 the prior week that was more than first estimated, Labor Department figures showed today in Washington. Economists projected claims would fall to 375,000, according to the median estimate in a Bloomberg News survey.

A pickup in dismissals may raise concern the labor market will have trouble rebounding after a slowdown in job creation in the past four months. Weaker economic growth and a lack of clarity about the business environment may discourage companies from hiring at a pace needed to speed up the expansion.

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Manpower survey: US employers to add jobs in Q3

While potentially encouraging, most people are in the "I'll believe it when I see it" phase after years of employment problems and promises of political fixes. The stimulus did work though nothing else has helped employment. Maybe there really is a hiring spike coming in Q3 but like others, I'll believe it when I see it.

More from Bloomberg on the new survey:

Manpower Inc. (MAN)’s employment index for the period from July through September climbed to 11 percent, the highest reading in four years, from 10 percent in the second quarter, the Milwaukee, Wisconsin-based, staffing company reported. The measure was at 8 percent a year earlier.

For the first time since 2008, employers held positive outlooks on hiring in consecutive quarters in all four regions of the country and in all industries. The figures may ease concern that the job market is faltering after Labor Department data showed employment rose in May at the slowest pace in a year.

“We’ve been climbing out of this slowly,” Manpower Chief Executive Officer Jeff Joerres said in an interview. “It’s nothing fantastic, but it’s a hand-over-hand rappelling up the hill.”

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Unemployed bused into London for unpaid work during queen's celebration

Who would ever guess that it's a Tory government running the UK? Anyone with a sense of decency and respect for the hard times in the UK would want to scale back if not postpone a celebration for the monarchy, but we are talking about the British royal family after all.

It's absurd to imagine any taxpayer money funding a "party" for one of the richest families in the world. It's even more absurd to bus unemployment recipients to London, ask them to sleep under bridges and then work for such an event. Royalists are naturally claiming that the event generates millions for the economy, no doubt using the same twisted logic that sports teams use when they spend millions to move a team into a new location.

Smile, you're working for the queen now.

A group of long-term unemployed jobseekers were bussed into London to work as unpaid stewards during the diamond jubilee celebrations and told to sleep under London Bridge before working on the river pageant.

Up to 30 jobseekers and another 50 people on apprentice wages were taken to London by coach from Bristol, Bath and Plymouth as part of the government's Work Programme.

Two jobseekers, who did not want to be identified in case they lost their benefits, said they had to camp under London Bridge the night before the pageant. They told the Guardian they had to change into security gear in public, had no access to toilets for 24 hours, and were taken to a swampy campsite outside London after working a 14-hour shift in the pouring rain on the banks of the Thames on Sunday.

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US employment numbers far below pessimistic forecasts

There's no way around the fact that the May numbers are weak. Unemployment bumped up and the new jobs were only 69,000, well under the consensus 158,000. Yes, private employment is up and government jobs are shrinking and yes, the number is still above the painful 20,000 per month average from the Bush years. That said, we need a lot more jobs.

The challenge now will be avoiding the trap that Republicans will set, promoting the urgent need for austerity. If there's one thing we can't afford now, it's austerity. That program is taking Europe down the drain quickly and it would be a death blow for the US economy if implemented now.

Tax cuts for the so-called "job creators" is another terrible idea that will get new coverage via the Romney campaign but after this many years of Bush tax cuts, how much more obvious can it be that those tax cuts only add more to the deficit without providing the always promised jobs?

More on the miserable May jobs report via Bloomberg:

American employers in May added the smallest number of workers in a year and the unemployment rate unexpectedly increased as job-seekers re-entered the workforce, further evidence that the labor-market recovery is stalling.

Payrolls climbed by 69,000 last month, less than the most- pessimistic forecast in a Bloomberg News survey, after a revised 77,000 gain in April that was smaller than initially estimated, Labor Department figures showed today in Washington. The median estimate called for a 150,000 May advance. The jobless rate rose to 8.2 percent from 8.1 percent, while hours worked declined.

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Bailed out Bank of America moves jobs out of America

Classy bunch, as always. Between the bailouts that were more about bailing out banker lifestyles than saving the banks and now this, there's very reason to do any banking with these mega banks. Their service has never been known to be good for the 99% and now they think so little about their retail customers that they're handing over sensitive customer data to the Philippines.

Besides habit and the hassle of changing, there's no good reason to stick with any of these big banks. More on the latest slap in the face to America by Bank of America at Mother Jones:

Roman Romulo, deputy majority leader of the Philippine House of Representatives, bragged to the Manila Standard Today earlier this month that the Philippines "has secured its place as the world's fastest-growing outsourcing hub." Romulo pointed out that BofA is the last of the "big four" US banks to move their business-support network to his island nation, where the average family makes $4,700 a year.

A spokesman for Bank of America, Mark Pipitone, was unable to provide additional information about the bank's offshoring plans on Friday. "We have employees and operations where we can ensure that we best serve our customers and clients," he told me in an email.

The bank's outsourcing comes amid rising concerns about the security of customers' financial data in the hands of foreign contractors. In March, undercover reporters for England's Sunday Times met in India with "IT consultants" who claimed they were call center workers and offered to sell them credit card and medical information for 500,000 Britons—including account holders at major banks such as HSBC.

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Divisions develop in UK coalition over employment law

The relationship between the Conservatives (Tories) and the Liberal Democrats (Lib Dems) has always been a bit strange. The Lib Dems sold their souls to the Tories in hopes of election reform but that never really worked out the way the Lib Dems had hoped. Were they fools for believing in the Tories? Probably, so there weren't too many tears shed for the Lib Dems.

The next election is theoretically not until 2015, but more cracks are developing in the odd partnership. A big money Tory donor recently has been pushing for employment reform in the UK, including "no fault dismissal" for employees. For those unfamiliar with UK and European employment law, terminating a contract for an employee tends to be more complicated and time consuming and ultimately more expensive than what we know in the US.

As someone who is familiar with both sides of this issue, I still have mixed feelings on this. Though I ultimately favor the European model - it's more fair for employees - there are certain aspects of the US model that remain superior. There is no question that employees change jobs more often these days compared to a few decades ago. Changing jobs every few years has become a fact of life whether we like it or not.

Where the UK/European model is superior is that it forces companies to find solutions (change managers, change positions, etc) or face time consuming, expensive terminations. For employees, job terminations are painful but employees can often receive enough money (tax free in France) to carry them through the long transition period.

Where the US model is superior is that finding employment tends to be a much faster process. It's extremely cruel to see how quickly and easily companies dump employees in the US. On the other hand, compared to the UK and Europe, finding new employment is much easier and faster.

Europe is slow to hire and also slow to fire. People who lose their jobs do have more money in their pocket and unemployment is much more than the US but wow, the process is painfully slow for finding work. What may take 3-6 months in the US could easily be 6-12 months in Europe. For many reasons, this is not a good place to be for any job seeker.

The Tory-proposed plan to "reform" employment law deserves criticism, especially now that everyone is mired in a soft economy when everything is more difficult. At the same time, finding a new model that makes it easier for employees to find work faster shouldn't be ignored. What also has to be a part of any reform for employees must also include reform for the very comfortable exit plans for the financial elite and executives.

Ultimately what is needed though is improved loyalty by businesses and an end to the harshness that dominates business culture today. That by itself if a tall order that looks out of reach any time soon. In that regard, the Lib Dems are right to block attempts by rich Tory donors to change the rules for everyone other than the pampered class at the top. Read the rest of this post...

Romney falsely claims Bush had better job growth than Obama

As Paul Krugman notes in the NYT, Romney is promising 500,000 jobs a month by returning us to the economic policies of the "wonderful" Bush years.

While everyone, including president Obama, would like to see the current jobs growth numbers be better, the numbers are still looking good compared to the Bush average numbers.  So how is Romney going to do better than Obama by returning us to Bush?

As Business Insider shows, even excluding the disastrous final year, Bush only generated an average of 65,000 jobs per month - compared to 131,000 per month under Obama. If you count everything, the number was an anemic 20,000.

Let Romney and the GOP talk lovingly about the good old days of jobs growth during the Bush years, and then give them the facts. Immediately after, give them a glass of water so they can swallow it all since the truth might get stuck in their throats. Read the rest of this post...

Unemployment rate up in Germany, Italy and EU

The tough times continue in the eurozone, including in the pro-austerity Germany. Italy and Spain are back in recession (along with the UK, who is outside of the eurozone) and the overall unemployment rate is increasing in the eurozone. In addition, Spanish youth unemployment has now crossed over 51%. More on the faltering economies of Europe via the BBC:

For all 17 nations in the eurozone, the jobless rate rose again to 10.9%, from 10.8%, Eurostat said.

And the jobless rate in Germany - the largest and strongest economy in Europe - unexpectedly also increased.

Germany's jobless rate rose to 6.8% in March, official figures showed, having been expected to stay at the previous month's 6.7% after six months of declines.

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Mitt Romney thinks his wife lacks "dignity"?

Mitt Romney said this past January that he thinks stay at home moms taking care of small children are lacking in dignity since they're not working real jobs.

Romney was talking about moms on welfare, but he might as well been talking about Martians, it doesn't matter - his point was that stay at home moms don't have real jobs, or at the very least their jobs aren't as good as the jobs of women working paid jobs in the workplace, and that stay at home moms don't have the same level of dignity of women who with paying jobs in the workplace.

Ouch.

What Mitt Romney said this past January is far worse than even the worst interpretation of what Hilary Rosen said this past week.

Hilary was questioning whether stay at home moms were intimately familiar with the ins and outs of the paying workplace. Mitt Romney was suggesting that women who stay at home taking care of their kids aren't working real jobs, and therefore don't have the dignity of women with "real" jobs.

Here's what Mitt Romney said, followed by the video.

"I said, for instance, that even if you have a child two years of age, you need to go to work... I want individuals to have the dignity of work."

In other words, if you're a mom at home taking care of a child two years of age, you're not "working," and you don't have "the dignity of work."

And here's the video via Chris Hayes, who unearthed the quote:

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Romney knows he's in trouble on this. You should read the convoluted answer non-answer he gave to the Huffington Post after he was confronted with his "dignity" quote from January.

I think Mitt Romney owes his wife, and every stay at home mom in the country, an apology for questioning their work and their dignity. Read the rest of this post...

Not good econ figures, US added only 120,000 jobs last month

What sounded like good news a few days ago has turned out to be bad news. It's both under the number of incoming job seekers as well as well under the forecast.

U.S. payrolls rose far less than expected in March, keeping the door open for further monetary policy support from the Federal Reserve, even as the unemployment rate fell to a three-year low of 8.2 percent.

Employers added 120,000 jobs last month, the Labor Department said on Friday, the smallest increase since October.

Economists polled by Reuters had expected nonfarm employment to increase 203,000 and the unemployment rate to hold at 8.3 percent.

As Roubini tweeted today, the only reason the unemployment rate looks like this is because the participation rate dropped. Many workers have stopped looking. Read the rest of this post...

Job growth again in March

This early (and unofficial) report is more good news on the US economy. It has to get a lot better in order to help clear out the excessively high unemployment numbers. Unlike the consistently ugly numbers during the Bush years, this is once again both growth and above the number of incoming job seekers. Between the jobs growth numbers and the rising Dow numbers, Obama is not too bad for a socialist who hates business. CNBC:

The private sector created 209,000 jobs in March, continuing the slow but steady rise in employment that has characterized the employment market for months.

Services again led the job creation, according to a report from ADP and Macroeconomic Advisors.

The service sector increased 164,000 in March, though the rate of job creation slowed a big from the upwardly revised 183,000 in February.

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Jobless in Spain hits record high

Sadly, there is very little good news out of Spain these days. The jobless numbers are horrid (again) and the unemployment is sitting at 23.6% and over 50% for the younger generation. Now that the new government has announced its strict austerity plan, times are bound to get tougher. BBC News:

The number of Spanish jobseekers rose for the eighth month in a row in March to hit a record 4.75 million.

The Labour Ministry said the number of people filing for unemployment benefits rose by 38,769 with the services sector seeing the most jobs lost.

The jobless rate in Spain stood at 23.6% in February, according to EU figures released on Monday.

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