by ilene - September 4th, 2010 3:13 am
Courtesy of Mish
This morning the BLS reported a decrease of 64,000 jobs. However, that reflects a decrease of 114,000 temporary census workers.
Excluding the census effect, government lost 7,000 jobs. Were the trend to continue, this would be a good thing because Firing Public Union Workers Creates Real Jobs.
Unfortunately, politicians and Keynesian clown economists will not see it that way. Indeed there is a $26 billion bill giving money to the states to keep bureaucrats employed. This is unfortunate because we need to shed government jobs.
Birth-Death Model
Hidden beneath the surface the BLS Black Box – Birth Death Model added 115,000 jobs, a number likely to be revised lower in coming years. Please note you cannot directly subtract the number from the total because of the way the BLS computes its overall number.
Participation Rate Effects
The civilian labor force participation rate (64.7 percent) and the employment-population ratio (58.5 percent) were essentially unchanged from last month’s report. However, these measures have declined by 0.5 percentage points and 0.3 points, respectively, since April.
The drop in participation rate this year is the only reason the unemployment rate is not over 10%. The drop in participation rates is not that surprising because some of the long-term unemployed stopped looking jobs, or opted for retirement.
Nonetheless, I still do not think the top in the unemployment rate is in and expect it may rise substantially later this year as the recovery heads into a coma and states are forced to cut back workers unless Congress does substantially more to support states.
Employment and Recessions
Calculated Risk has a great chart showing the effects of census hiring as well as the extremely weak hiring in this recovery.
click on chart for sharper image
The dotted lines tell the real story about how pathetic a jobs recovery this has been. Bear in mind it has taken $trillions in stimulus to produce this.
June, July Revisions
The change in total nonfarm payroll employment for June was revised from -221,000 to -175,000, and the change for July was revised from -131,000 to -54,000.
Those revisions look good but it is important to note where the revisions comes from. The loss of government jobs in June was revised from…
Tags: ADP jobs report, benefits, BLS jobs report, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment, ISM, jobs recovery, Keynesian clown economists, Mish, Nonfarm payroll employment, participation rate, politicians, revisions, shrinking government jobs, U-6, underemployment, union workers
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by ilene - July 15th, 2010 5:12 pm
Courtesy of Mish
A consortium of 30,000 union workers at Canadian food stores have gone on strike over company demands to reduce wages by as much as 25% and reduce pension benefits as well.
For their part, grocers want to remain competitive with Wal-Mart, the 800-pound retail gorilla. Who has the upper hand and why?
Please consider Ontario Loblaw workers approve strike mandate amid stalled contract talks.
Loblaw Co. workers in Ontario have overwhelmingly voted to give their union a strike mandate if Canada’s largest grocery chain doesn’t back down from concession demands that it says are necessary to remain competitive against its non-unionized rivals.
Over 97 per cent of members of the United Food and Commercial Workers union, which represents nearly 30,000 employees at stores under names such as Loblaws, Zehrs, Real Canadian Superstores and Fortinos, have voted in favour of a strike.
Loblaw says it must modify some of its existing agreements in order to stay competitive, as earnings have declined about five per cent from where they were five years ago.
Workers are frustrated over company proposals that would cut wages by up to 25 per cent, increase waiting times for benefits eligibility and reduce full-time jobs. Workers at those stores make between the minimum wage of $10.25 and $25 an hour, plus benefits.
But Loblaw says that it must increase efficiency to take on a growing number of non-unionized competitors, like U.S.-based retail giant Wal-Mart, which has been ramping up its focus on low-cost groceries.
"We are striving to reach an agreement that would enable the company to continue to meet the demands of today’s highly competitive retail landscape," Julija Hunter, the company’s vice-president of public relations, said in an emailed statement.
"In many contracts we pay 10 per cent more than competitors and have 15 per cent less flexibility. That’s a real competitive disadvantage. That’s not sustainable," Hunter said.
Attitudes and the 800-Pound Deflationary Gorilla
Like it or not, and the unions and Wal-Mart haters won’t, there is only one reasonable way of looking at this….
Loblaws, Zehrs, Real Canadian Superstores and Fortinos need to be competitive to stay in business. If they fail to stay in business, every job at everyone of those stores will be lost or reorganized in a bankruptcy process. Accrued pensions may blow up in…
Tags: Canada, deflation, food stores, Mish, retail sales, union workers, Wal-Mart
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by ilene - November 8th, 2009 4:15 pm
Courtesy of Mish
About 20,000 Fry’s and Safeway grocery workers in Arizona could walk off the job at 6 p.m. next Friday if the companies and the workers’ union fail to reach a contract deal by the deadline.
If a deal is not reached, it would be the first general Arizona grocery strike in decades.
The union representing the workers delivered its ultimatum to the companies Thursday after no progress was made in this week’s round of negotiations. In a note to members, the president of United Food & Commercial Local 99, Jim McLaughlin, said a strike against one or more of the companies now appears likely.
While the two sides remain at odds over numerous salary and benefit issues, the main stumbling block is health care. The companies traditionally have picked up the tab for their employees’ health insurance and now want them to shoulder more of the cost. That proposal has been unacceptable to the union and its members.
"With the recent negotiating sessions, it became clear their goal is to force us into a position of a strike," McLaughlin said. "We have been clear to the employers as to what an acceptable offer is. They know what it is, but they have refused to cooperate."
Safeway spokeswoman Cathy Kloos said it was a shame the union has put the parties on a collision course over health-care costs similar to or less than what many other workers already pay.
"Most working Americans would consider $5 a week for individual health coverage and $15 a week to cover an entire family a bargain, " she said.
The workers would be entitled to about $150 per week in strike pay should they walk out.
Colorado Unions Join The Insanity
The previous article was in reference to Arizona.
Colorado wants a piece of the action as well. Please consider
…
Tags: Fry's, Grocery Store Strikes, Safeway stores, union workers
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Philip R. Davis is a founder Phil's Stock World, a stock and options trading site that teaches the art of options trading to newcomers and devises advanced strategies for expert traders...
Ilene is editor and affiliate program
coordinator for PSW.
