First-time Unemployment Claims Spike To 399,000

By  Meteor Blades    for Daily Kos Labor       Thu Jan 12, 2012

The Department of Labor this morning reported a seasonally adjusted rise of 24,000 to 399,000 in first-time applications for unemployment benefits for the week ending Jan. 7. The four-week moving average preferred by many economic analysts because flattens volatility rose to 381,750 from the previous week's revised average of 374,000. A year ago at this time the weekly number was 437,000 and and the four-week running average was 420,000.

The significant jump could be an indication that temporary hiring of package delivery personnel and retail workers in December was larger than expected. The median forecast of the 46 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg was 375,000. The rise could be bad news for a labor market that has been improving at a slightly accelerated rate the past few months. The claims figures, like other job reports, are especially volatile around the holiday season. The first week of the year typically shows a high number of claims.

“Labor demand is still not strong enough to support a complete jobs recovery,” Henry Mo, an economist at Credit Suisse in New York, said before the report. Even so, “the labor market is heading in the right direction.”

Originally posted to Daily Kos Labor on Thu Jan 12, 2012

Also republished by Daily Kos.

Technorati Tags: Department of Labor,The Economy,Unemployment Claims,Jobs,Current Events,An American Gothic

Company Wants To Be Able To Fire People and Prevent Them From Getting New Jobs

by quaoar      Mon Jan 09, 2012

This is a twist that Mitt Romney wishes he had thought of at Bain Capital -- where firing people is tons of fun.

A company called Halifax -- owned by Arkansas billionaire Warren Stephens -- recently bought a bunch of small newspapers that were owned by the NY Times. Halifax then started a process to decide which employees at these newspaper would be kept and which would be let go.

Apparently, according to a report at Poynter.org, some employees are being given a choice -- before they can keep their jobs they have to sign an agreement that lets Halifax fire them at will and prevents them from taking a job in any other city with a Halifax property for two years.

Employees at the 16 papers now owned by Halifax Media Group are being asked to sign an agreement that allows the company to fire them anytime but prevents them from working for media companies in any other city with a Halifax property for two years. A tipster said employees have until tomorrow to decide whether to sign or lose their jobs.

It used to be that if a company wanted to part ways with someone and prevent them from competing with them once they left, they had to negotiate a buyout.

And it often involved someone who had inside knowledge of the workings of the company that would be valuable to a competitor.

But Halifax is apparently taking that to a new level. Why shell out money for buyouts when you can just coerce everyone into signing noncompete agreements and then let them go?

Just think of all the extra cash that Romney could have earned for Bain Capital if he had thought of this years ago.

Technorati Tags: The Economy,Halifax,New York Times,Employment,Jobs,Current Events,An American Gothic