Does accountability go both ways...why weren't they prepared?

'Gaps' exist in unemployment payments, Gov. Newsom says

FILE— In this Tuesday April 14, 2020, file photo, California Gov. Gavin Newsom discusses an outline for what it will take to lift coronavirus restrictions, during a news conference at the Governor's Office of Emergency Services in Rancho Cordova, Calif. On Wednesday, April 22, Newson announced hospitals can resume scheduled surgeries. It's the first significant change to the state's stay-at-home order. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli, File)

MERCURY NEWS

 

April 22, 2020, 7:07PM

 

Updated 13 hours ago

“Gaps” exist in the state labor agency’s quest to distribute unemployment payments to more than 3 million California workers who have lost their jobs due to the economic fallout unleashed by the coronavirus, Gov. Gavin Newsom said Wednesday.

At least 3.2 million California residents have filed unemployment claims, Newsom estimated Wednesday, in the wake of business lockdowns imposed by state and local governments to help combat the spread of the coronavirus.

“There are still some gaps,” the governor said, in the EDD’s ability to serve unemployed people promptly — or at all.

EDD officials processed billions of dollars in unemployment claims for the week that ended on April 18.

“Just last week, $2 billion in unemployment insurance claims were dispersed, just in one week,” the governor said.

In comparison, over the roughly one-month period from about March 12 through April 11, the state EDD processed $1 billion in unemployment insurance claims.

That means in the most recent week, the state EDD distributed an average of about $286 million a day in unemployment payments, compared with an average $33 million a day for the four weeks that ended on April 11 — nearly nine times as much.

Numerous payments also are being enhanced with an additional $600 a week that is being financed by the federal government. That means a person who receives the maximum California unemployment payment of $450 a week would be getting $1,050 a week when the additional federal payment is added.

In the most recent round of EDD notices of job cutbacks, the largest disclosure in California was filed by Aramark, with plans to lay off more than 1,800 at Yosemite National Park. Aramark provides food, facilities, and uniform services to an array of clients.

The largest Bay Area layoff that was disclosed also was by Aramark, which laid off 777 in Oakland. In addition, Therma, a heating and air conditioning company, dismissed 477 workers in San Jose, according to the EDD documents.

Starting on Monday, the EDD dramatically expanded its hours to provide phone services from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., seven days a week.

“The call centers are profoundly important to people,” Newsom said. “But also getting out those claims within 21 days is equally important. We are able to maintain that status.”

The governor acknowledged, though, that the EDD ramp-up is an incomplete endeavor.

“We still have so much work to do to get these checks out,” Newsom said.

Why people dread having to deal with bureaucracy and yet they vote for more government

They Filed for Unemployment Last Month. They Haven't Seen a Dime.

Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo has repeatedly promised to fix New York’s archaic unemployment-insurance system, which has been overwhelmed by an unprecedented wave of claims.

The state has partnered with Google to overhaul the online application, staffed call centers with thousands of additional workers and expanded their call-volume capacity, and vowed to address outstanding unemployment claims within 72 hours.

Carly Keohane has yet to benefit from any of those improvements.

Ms. Keohane, who lost her waitressing job in Rochester, N.Y., has been waiting a month to receive $2,124 in unemployment payments as a direct deposit into her bank account.

But the state instead told her that the money had been deposited on a state-issued debit card, which she never received. She cannot get anyone on the phone to find out where it is.

“I call the Department of Labor every single day, and I know the options by heart now,” said Ms. Keohane, 31, whose checking account was down to $10.35. “It would be OK if I just knew where the money was.”

As the coronavirus pandemic and near-nationwide stay-at-home orders exact an astonishing toll on the American economy, states’ unemployment systems have crateredunder a never-before-seen deluge of jobless claims. Over the past four weeks, about 22 million workers filed jobless claims, including about 1.2 million New Yorkers.

Unemployment systems, some of which rely on an antiquated computer programming language that has largely gone the way of dinosaurs, were not built for such a rush of claimants.

They also were not built for a new class of workers — independent contractors and the self-employed — now eligible for assistance during the pandemic.The results have been disastrous and maddening. Many people have had their online applications crash before they could hit submit, requiring them to start again from scratch. They have endured hourslong wait times over several days only to get randomly disconnected, or connected with representatives who say they cannot fix their issues.

In other states, including Kansas and Missouri, applicants say that they are still waiting for their unemployment payments to arrive, and that they have experienced long wait times on the phone, as well as busy signals, disconnections and error-prone online applications.

Without unemployment assistance, they have relied on friends, family and savings, if they have one, to survive.

For applicants in New York lucky enough to get through and submit a claim, some have been jolted awake at 2 a.m. by calls from the state’s Department of Labor seeking to confirm their identity.

Speaking in Albany on Thursday, the secretary to the governor, Melissa DeRosa, said the state had been staggering under the weight of more than one million claims for unemployment insurance, about four times the number of people who had lost jobs after the 2008 economic meltdown.

“We are going to continue doing everything we can to bring the system up to deal with this scale,” she said.Ms. Keohane was saving for a down payment on house. Instead, she has withdrawn all of her money to pay for groceries, as well as diapers and wipes for her 2-year-old son.

She has debated getting groceries from a food pantry but cannot bring herself to do it.

“It’s not right for me to have to go there,” she said. “There are people who are more needy than me.”

continue

Remember Nancy Pelosi says we must stop this...

Jobless Claims Lower than Expected, Four Week Average Hits Lowest Level Since 1969

The Associated Press

30 Aug 2018

The number of Americans filing new applications for state unemployment benefits rose by less than expected last week, suggesting that the labor market is still very vigorous.

New claims rose by just 3,000 to a seasonally adjusted 213,000 last week, the Labor Department said Thursday. After three consecutive weeks of declines, economists had forecast a rise to 214,000, according to Bloomberg.

Jo0bless claims are an indication of layoffs and have been closely watched this year for signs that trade disputes might weigh on the U.S. labor market. So far, there are no signs that tariffs have cost the U.S. economy any jobs.

The four-week moving average of claims, which smooths out weekly volatility and is considered by many economists to be a more reliable gauge of conditions, fell by 1,500 to 212,250. That is the lowest level since December 1969, according to the Labor Department.

Democrats prefer food stamps to work

Sour Pelosi poo-poos booming economy: ‘Strong employment numbers mean little’

JUNE 1, 2018

BY KYLE OLSON 

The Trump economy is booming, but that’s not good enough for Nancy Pelosi.

The May unemployment rate was a stunningly low 3.8 percent, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Black unemployment is the lowest ever: 5.9 percent, the Washington Examiner reports.

But instead of celebrating the incredible economic activity, the House Speaker wannabe shrugged.

“May’s jobs report shows that strong employment numbers mean little to the families hit with soaring new costs under the Republicans’ watch,” the House Minority Leader said in a statement.

She added:

Republicans’ cruel, cynical health care sabotage campaign is already spiking families’ premiums by double digits and pushing millions off their coverage, according to the nonpartisan CBO.  Big Pharma continues to hoard the benefits of the GOP tax scam, using their handouts to further enrich executives and shareholders instead of lowering prescription drug costs for seniors and sick kids.  At the same time, the President’s reckless policies are exploding gas prices, wiping out the few meager gains that some families should have received from the GOP tax scam, as wages remain stagnant.

“Democrats will never stop fighting for the hard-working middle class families who are the backbone of our nation,” she claimed.

It’s not the first time Pelosi was sour about positive economic news.

She had a similar response during Trump’s first speech to Congress last year.

Trump ran down a list of companies that have announced investments and job additions in the last several weeks.

“Since my election, Ford, Fiat Chrysler, General Motors, Sprint, Softbank, Lockheed, Intel, Walmart and many others have announced that they will invest billions and billions of dollars in the United States and create tens of thousands of new American jobs,” Trump said.

As many stood to applaud, Pelosi remained seated with a sour look on her face.

Pelosi couldn’t find joy in dozens of companies passing along the tax cut savings onto employees in the form of bonuses, routinely calling the $1,000-or-more checks “crumbs.”

Black unemployment rate hits new record low in May

The locals are too busy hating Trump to notice!

Unemployment drops to 18-year low in Sonoma County

Unemployment tumbled to an 18-year low in Sonoma County in April as the county’s labor force contracted for the second consecutive month, the state Employment Development Department reported Friday.

Employers are continuing to create new jobs while fewer people are looking for work, driving the unemployment rate down to 2.5 percent in April, down from 2.8 percent in March and 3.3 percent a year ago.

It is the lowest unemployment seen in Sonoma County since December 1999, when the jobless rate was 2.3 percent.

As the region’s labor force shrinks, employers will need to consider raising wages to attract top talent, said Robert Eyler, an economist at Sonoma State University.

The county economy has created 3,200 jobs over the past year, boosting employment to 214,700, according to EDD figures. But 1,300 people have left the labor force over the past year, primarily since September, the month before wildfires ripped through Sonoma County.

The result: more jobs and fewer unemployed workers to fill them. The EDD reported only 6,600 people were unemployed and actively looking for work in Sonoma County in April, the smallest number since December 1999.

Unemployment across much of the North Bay — including Marin, Napa, Solano and Mendocino counties — hovered at or below 3.8 percent, the statewide jobless rate.

“I think the underlying idea is that this is a regional marketplace, so these counties all read into the figures,” Eyler said. “Looking at one county won’t give you a true sense of (the big picture).”

In Mendocino County, unemployment fell to 3.8 percent in April, down from 4.4 percent in March and 4.8 percent a year ago. The county has added 510 jobs over the past year, boosting employment to 33,340.

In Lake County, unemployment slid to 5.0 percent in April, down from 5.5 percent in March and 5.7 percent a year ago. The county has added 410 jobs over the past year, boosting employment to 17,090.

In Napa County, unemployment dropped to 2.8 percent in April, down from 3.2 percent in March and 3.6 percent a year ago. The county has added 200 jobs over the past year, boosting employment to 77,300.

The North Bay Business Journal contributed to this story.

Record 95,102,000 Americans Not in Labor Force; Number Grew 18% Since Obama Took Office in 2009

By Susan Jones | January 6, 2017 | 8:49 AM EST 

In this Dec. 15, 2009, file photo, President Barack Obama speaks about job creation and the economic recovery during a visit to a Home Depot in Alexandria, Va. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)

(CNSNews.com) - Barack Obama's presidency began with a record number of Americans not in the labor force, and it's ending the same way.

The final jobs report of the Obama presidency, released Friday, shows that the number of Americans not in the labor force has increased by 14,573,000 (18.09 percent) since January 2009, when Obama took office, continuing a long-term trend that began well before Obama was sworn in.

In December, according to the Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics, a record 95,102,000 Americans were not in the labor force, 47,000 more than in November; and the labor force participation rate was 62.7 percent, a tenth of a point higher than in November.

The participation rate dropped to a 38-year low of 62.4 percent on Obama's watch, in September 2015. It was only 3-tenths of a point higher than that last month.

 

People over age 16 who are no longer working or even looking for work, for whatever reason (retirement, school, personal preference, or gave up), are counted as not participating in the labor force.

When President Obama took office in January 2009, 80,529,000 Americans were not in the labor force, the highest number on record. That number rose steadily during his two terms, reaching a record 95,055,000 in November 2016, then setting another record (95,102,000) in December.

BLS said the December unemployment rate increased a tenth of a point to 4.7 percent, well below the Obama-era high of 10 percent. Last month, a record 152,111,000 Americans were counted as employed, up 63,000 from November; and the number of unemployed stood at 7,529,000, an increase of 120,000 from the prior month.

But people who stop looking for a job are no longer counted as unemployed.

In an interview with a Chicago reporter yesterday, Obama said he has done "an enormous amount" to create greater economic opportunity for Americans.

"I took an economy that was about to go into a Great Depression, and we've now had a little over six years of straight economic job growth, an unemployment rate that's down below 5 percent, and incomes that have gone up and poverty that has gone down." 

Obama also conceded that "there are still folks out there who struggle and communities that are still depressed." He called it an "ongoing battle."

"We have to continue to work to make sure that kids are getting the best education they can, that jobs are being located so that people in need can access them, and that's going to be something that I suspect we'll all be working on, and folks will still be working on after I'm gone."

During Obama’s two terms in office, the number of employed Americans reached its lowest point – 138,013,000 – in December 2009. Eight years later, in December 2017, 14,098,000 Americans have been added to the employment rolls.

The government collects payroll taxes from Americans who work, and some of that money is spent on government programs that support people who do not work. So the more who work, the better for the economy.

In December, the nation’s civilian noninstitutionalized population, consisting of all people age 16 or older who were not in the military or an institution, reached 254,742,000.  Of those, 152,111,000 participated in the labor force by either holding a job or actively seeking one.

The 152,111,000 who participated in the labor force equaled 67.3 percent of the 254,742,000 civilian noninstitutionalized population.

According to BLS, total nonfarm payroll employment rose by a lackluster 156,000 in December. Over the past 3 months, job gains have averaged 165,000 per month.

Among the major worker groups, the unemployment rates for adult men (4.4 percent), adult women (4.3 percent), teenagers (14.7 percent), Whites (4.3 percent), Blacks (7.8 percent), Asians (2.6 percent), and Hispanics (5.9 percent) showed little change in December.

The number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks or more) was essentially unchanged at 1.8 million in December and accounted for 24.2 percent of the unemployed. In 2016, the number of long-term unemployed declined by 263,000.

The business and economic reporting of CNSNews.com is funded in part with a gift made in memory of Dr. Keith C. Wold.

French labour reforms: Government to force plan through. Reality once again trumps socialist ideology.

French labour reforms: Government to force plan through

Image copyrightAFP

Image captionThe proposed reforms have triggered protests across France

The French cabinet has given the go-ahead for Prime Minister Manuel Valls to force through highly controversial labour reforms.

An extraordinary cabinet meeting invoked the French constitution's controversial Article 49.3, allowing the government to bypass parliament.

The bill would make it easier for employers to hire and fire workers.

Opponents say it will let employers bypass workers' rights on pay, overtime and breaks. 

The proposed reforms, which also include changes to France's 35-hour working week, have sparked waves of sometimes violent protests across France.

France's Socialist government says removing some of the protection workers enjoy will encourage businesses to hire more people.

It says its aim is to combat chronic unemployment.

Image copyrightAFP

Image captionFrench Prime minister Manuel Valls faced a rebellion among Socialist MPs over the reforms

President Francois Hollande has said that he will only consider running for re-election next year if he can bring down the jobless rate, which is more than 10%.

The decision to invoke article 49.3 was made after the government failed to reach a compromise on the bill with MPs.

A group of rebels within the Socialist party has refused to support the reforms.

The only way the bill can now be stopped is by a motion of censure - effectively a vote of no confidence - in parliament within 24 hours, a move which would bring down the government.

Correspondents say such action is highly unlikely.

In 1 in 5 Families in the U.S., No One Works. The cart gets heavier and the work load increases for the productive. Radical compassion will drown us all.

In 1 in 5 Families in the U.S., No One Works

BY: Ali Meyer  —  April 22, 2016 11:55 am

In 2015, there were 16,060,000 families with no member employed

AP

There were one in five families in the United States in 2015, or 19.7 percent, in which no one in the family worked, according to datareleased by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

“Families are classified either as married-couple families or as families maintained by women or men without spouses present,” explains the bureau. “Families include those without children as well as those with children under age 18.”

There were 81,410,000 families in the United States in 2015. Of those, there were 16,060,000 families in which no member was employed, or 19.7 percent of the total.

The number has remained relatively steady since the Bureau of Labor Statistics started tracking this data since 1995.

That year, the percent of families in which no one had a job was 18.8 percent. The percentage hit an all-time high of 20.2 percent in 2011. It held steady at 20 percent in 2012 and 2013. In 2014, it declined to 19.9 percent and in 2015 it declined again to 19.7 percent.

According to the bureau, an individual is counted as employed if they did any work at all in the survey reference week as paid employees, worked in their own business, profession or on their own farm, or worked 15 hours or more as unpaid workers in an enterprise operated by a member of the family.

 The 19.7 percent of families in which no one was employed means they could have either been unemployed or not in the labor force (for example, married retirees).

According to the bureau, an individual is unemployed if they did not have a job but actively sought one in the past four weeks. An individual is classified as not in the labor force if they did not have a job and did not actively seek one in the past four weeks.

“In 2015, about two-thirds (68.2 percent) of families with an unemployed member also had at least one family member who was employed, and 58.8. percent had at least one family member who was employed full time,” the bureau explains.

10.7 percent of families with children under 18 years saw neither parent employed.

“Among families with children, 89.3 percent had at least one employed parent in 2015,” the bureau states. “Among married-couple families with children, 96.7 percent had at least one employed parent; both parents worked in 60.6 percent of married-couple families.”

Intel Lays Off 12,000 People After Lobbying For More Foreign Workers

One of the top users of foreign workers imported via the H-1B visa program announced Tuesday it’s laying off about ten percent of its global workforce.

Tech giant Intel is laying off some 12,000 workers, although it’s one of the country’s 15 largest users of H-1Bs, which are temporary visas that allow companies to hire foreign workers for American tech jobs. The big-time layoffs come even as the company has called for hikes in the number of foreign workers it is able to hire using H-1B visas.

The chip-making giant said the mass firings are part of a “restructuring initiative” that will further its shift away from the PC business toward smart devices and cloud-based computing.

But the firings stand out in light of Intel’s lobbying to expand the H-1B visa program. In 2013, the company’s government affairs managers complained that Intel simply can’t find enough homegrown workers in technical fields to meet its needs. And in 2014, the company called for allowing the spouses and children of H-1B recipients to automatically qualify for work in the U.S. as well.

 

Critics accuse Intel and other tech companies of exploiting the visas to drive down labor costs in Silicon Valley, while depriving qualified U.S. workers of jobs. Notably, Intel was also a defendant in a class-action lawsuit that accused several major tech companies, including Apple and Google, of colluding to keep wages low. That suit was settled for over $400 million in 2015.

In 2015, Microsoft, HP, and Qualcomm all made big layoffs despite lobbying for an increase in H-1Bs. Intel itself also had a smaller layoff wave in 2015, which provoked a denunciation from Republican Sen. Jeff Sessions.

Read more:  http://dailycaller.com/2016/04/19/intel-lays-off-12000-people-after-lobbying-for-more-foreign-workers/#ixzz46Jq6PGXT
Read more:  http://dailycaller.com/2016/04/19/intel-lays-off-12000-people-after-lobbying-for-more-foreign-workers/#ixzz46JpGfJ7y

CAPITAL HILL 

How Good Is Job Growth? The Chart Obama Doesn’t Want You To See 

Is 14.4 million new jobs good or bad? It depends on the context. (AP)

• JOHN MERLINE
• 4/01/2016

“The longest streak of private-sector job growth on record”!

“U.S. businesses have now added 14.4 million jobs over 73 straight months”!

“The labor force participation rate rose to 63% in March, the same level as in November 2013”!

All those quotes — minus the exclamation points — came from White House top economist Jason Furman. And they are all accurate.

What’s missing, however, is context. Because when you look at these numbers in context, not only do the exclamation points disappear, but so do any claims of robust job growth under this administration.

Take that 14.4 million job growth number. That sounds impressive doesn’t it? But that job growth is stretched over almost six full years, during which time the working age population grew by 15.8 million.

In that respect, we’ve lost ground on jobs under Obama.

What’s more, that 14.4 million increase in jobs is measured against when the job market hit rock bottom in February 2010. If you compare the current number of jobs to the previous jobs peak in January 2008 — which is how job growth is normally measured — the number of private-sector jobs has increased just 5.6 million.

During that time, the population grew by more than 20 million. In other words, there’s a jobs gapof more than 14 million.

What about “labor force participation”? This is a measure of how many people are working or activity looking for a job. And while it’s recently ticked upward, as the nearby chart shows it is still way below where it was when the jobs recession ended in early 2010.

Want more context? Compare these numbers to what happened during the Reagan recovery, when the job market exploded after bottoming out in December 1982. While the population grew 12.4 million in the following six years, the number of jobs shot up by 18.4 million.

As a result, the labor force participation rate — which started out lower under Reagan than Obama — zoomed upward as strong growth pulled people back into the job market.

There are other bits of context on jobs that Furman manages to leave out of his post.

While 14.4 million jobs were created from February 2010 to March 2016, the number of people who dropped out of the labor force — either because they retired or just quit looking for work — shot up an astonishing 10 million.

Meanwhile, the number of people who aren’t in the labor force but do want to work is higher today than when Obama took office. And the median length of unemployment is now 11.4 weeks, which is also higher than when Obama took office.

In many areas of life, slow and steady will win the race. But when it comes to job growth, slow and steady ends up leaving millions of workers in the dust.