Jobless Rates Drop in Almost All U.S. States

The Labor Department reports unemployment rates fell in 42 states.

Jobless rates ended 2012 lower than where they began, according to the Labor Department. The labor department previously announced a 5-year low in unemployment applications, largely attributing it to seasonality. The most recently released data show that, from December 2011, 42 states and the District of Columbia registered unemployment rate decreases from December from a year earlier.

The trend is expected to carry over into 2013, with Standard & Poor’s saying it expects “total nonfarm employment growth to rise 1.6 percent in 2013,” in the eastern Atlantic region due to tourism. (Reuters)

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Unemployment Rate Slightly Up for Nation, Blacks

Despite fiscal cliff fears, employers still added 155,000 jobs to the economy last month

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics on Friday said the national unemployment rate was mostly unchanged at 7.8 percent in December, although slightly up from the 7.7 percent reported in November. The unemployment rate for blacks rose to 14 percent, up from 13.2 percent in November. The rate for Hispanics (9.2 percent) and whites (6.9 percent) remained unchanged for a second straight month. Employers added 155,000  jobs, despite fears that the fiscal cliff debate in Congress would stifle growth. A total of 12.2 million Americans were unemployed in December. The number of long-term unemployed – people who had been jobless for more than 27 weeks – was unchanged at 4.8 million last month.

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Apple Vows To Bring Jobs Back To U.S. Next Year

Computer giant says they will start making computers in U.S.

Always one for big announcements, Apple has revealed that they plan to start making some of their computers on American soil.

The big reveal will air in an interview with Apple CEO Tim Cook on NBC's Rock Center on Thursday.

One of Apple's main criticisms has been their decision to take manufacturing across seas. Up until the late 1990's the company still made some of its products on American soil. But they insist it wasn't because of the costs, but because of the skills.

"Over time, there are skills that are associated with manufacturing that have left the United States," says Cook. "Not necessarily people, but the education system has just stopped producing that. It's a concerted effort to get them back."

Cook also adds that the company wants to help beat back the unemployment rate.

"I don't think we have a responsibility to create a certain kind of job," Cook said. "But I think we do have a responsibility to create jobs."

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Unemployment Rates Fall in 74 Percent of States

Jobs are being added in most states

Figures from the Labor Department showed unemployment rates went down in 37 U.S. states last month, thanks, in large part, to an increase in hiring.

Unemployment rates are now below 7 percent in almost half the states in the nation - 23 of 50 states. Rates rose in seven states in October and were unchanged in six, according to the AP.

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Nationwide, the unemployment rate increased to 7.9 percent in October, but employers added 171,000 jobs in the month. Job gains in September and August were also much stronger than initially estimated. That raised the average job growth from July through September to 174,000 a month, up from 67,000 a month in the April-June quarter.

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U.S. Suicide Rate Rose With High Unemployment

Every rise of 1 percent in unemployment accompanied by increase in suicide

Here’s a different way to measure the impact of recent Republican obstructionism on job creation in Congress: The rate of suicide in the U.S. rose sharply during the first few years of the Great Recession, according new analysis published in the medical journal, The Lancet. Researchers found the suicide rate between 2008 and 2010 increased four times faster than in the eight years before the economic downturn. Using number from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and from the Department of Labor, researchers were able to make a correlation to unemployment. With every 1 percent increase in unemployment, the suicide rate rose by a rate of roughly one percent, they found. Without the increase, 1,500 fewer people would have taken their lives. That information makes it hard to comprehend why action wasn’t taken on the American Jobs Act. (New York Times)

[ALSO READ: What To Expect If Mitt Romney Wins]

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Unemployment Ticks Up to 7.9 percent, 171,000 Jobs Add In October

Black unemployment up almost a percentage point higher from September

The Bureau of Labor Statistics on Friday announced the nation’s unemployment rate was virtually unchanged in October, but rose slightly to 7.9 percent, with 171,000 jobs added to the economy. The unemployment rate for African American, however, jumped up from 13.4 to 14.3 percent last month. The unemployment rates for Asians (4.9 percent), Hispanics (10 percent) and whites (7 percent) were unchanged. The Labor Department also revised last month’s jobs numbers from 114,000 to 148,000. This is the final jobs report before Election Day. Barack Obama is facing reelection with the highest unemployment rate of any incumbent since Franklin Roosevelt, The Associated Press reports. (AP)

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New Jobs Report Shows Steady Hiring

But unemployment rate can still hurt Obama

An employment report to be released by the government Friday will likely show that companies are hiring steadily but cautiously. Economists predict that employers added 121,000 jobs in October - up from last month but below the average monthly goal of 146,000. However, unemployment still remains high. Analysts think the unemployment rate rose to 7.9 percent from 7.8 percent in September. Any increase in the rate would mean that President Barack Obama would face voters with the highest unemployment rate of any incumbent since Franklin Roosevelt. (AP)

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Student Loan Debt Up Again Among New College Grads

Class of 2011 graduates into slow market with increased average debt

Young people in the U.S. are said to be too optimist about their future, compared with their peers abroad. Here’s something to knock them down a bit; two-third of the national college class of 2011 finished school with loan debt averaging $26,600, up about 5 percent from the class before it, according to the latest figures calculated by the Institute for College Access and Success. The report, released Thursday, does not include the debt of for-profit college graduates, who typically borrow more than their public university counterparts. But there’s a bright spot; even those who graduated indebted into an economy with an 8.8 percent unemployment rate in 2011 were better off than those without a degree, the report noted. The unemployment rate for those with only a high school credential last year was 19.1 percent. (Associated Press)

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Government Officials Insist Unemployment Numbers Are Legitimate

Conspiracy theorists say Obama manipulated the unemployment statistics; officials say that's simply not true

Despite calls of foul from some GOP supporters, government officials insist that there has been no government malfeasance in the reporting of new unemployment statistics.

When the unemployment rate dropped to a 44-month low of 7.8 percent on Friday, many talking heads insisted President Obama was playing fast and loose with the numbers. But officials in the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the government organization that calculates the rate, insists no such thing happened.

"To think that these numbers could be manipulated. ... It's impossible to do it and get away with it," said Keith Hall, a former commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics who was appointed by George W. Bush. "These numbers are very trustworthy."

Long-term Unemployed Dogged By Changed Job Market

Little more than half of the jobs lost in the recession have been recouped

Economists are predicting that the worker participation rate will stay the at a record low, as the jobs that are returning to the market don’t matching the skill set of the long-term unemployed. They estimate about 4 million few people are in the labor force today than in December 2007, due to the lack of jobs and not the normal aging of America’s population. If those discouraged jobseekers were still actively looking for work, the now 8.1 percent unemployment rate for August would have been 10.5 percent. The labor force participation rate has slumped to a 31-year low of 63.5 percent. President Barack Obama’s re-election bid is challenged by the reality that jobs have not returned to the economy at a rate that increases voter confidence. (Reuters)

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