economic round up

With new jobs numbers coming in it is clear things aren't getting better for most in America. While the economy is starting to gain more jobs than lose jobs, with a gain of 231,000 jobs in April, people are going longer without work than any other time in history.

Philadelphia is home to some of the top paid CEOs in the country. Heading the list of the 25 Top Paid CEOs recently put together by the Philadelphia Inquirer is Comcast CEO Brian Roberts. Roberts earned $24,683,315 up 2 percent from last year.

In a city that faces continued budget issues, and growing poverty the increase in earnings that these CEOs have seen mark a growing inequality that is being experienced across the country.

Democracy Now reported recent numbers that show improved profits of major corporations is not translating to the creation of jobs. Revenue across the Standard & Poor 500 (an index of major companies) have increased to a combined total of $1.18 trillion. This is up $518 million from last year, while capital expenditures, the kind of spending that can create jobs is down by 43%. In short, the market is profiting without workers.

With next year's budget proposals underway we are already seeing the hatchet for slashing budgets that brought about fears of government stand still last year.

Philadelphia is faced with a budget deficit of upwards of $100 million for fiscal year 2011. Over the five years that the city has to plan for, it's looking at a $500 to $700 million shortfall. This is a significant chunk of change to add on to the $2.4 billion already cut in the city's five-year plan last round.

The Wall Street Journal ran an article summing up some of the job losses that defined this recession - and that many of these jobs will never return. Unlike recessions past, when workers were temporarily laid off and then brought back on the job, this time around marked high rates of permanent layoffs and the disappearance of whole sectors of work. Real estate and construction took some of the hardest hits, with over 1.6 million construction jobs lost - a fifth of the 7.2 million lost since December 2007.

What if we drew a map that shows metro areas across the US with job gains and losses since the height of the economy in 2004? TIP Strategies did just that, creating a striking animation of the ballooning job losses marked by the crash of the financial markets in November 2008.

In a report released today, the Fiscal Policy Institute examines the effect of the current economic downturn on New York State, finding that job loss and wage declines are hitting New Yorkers hard - with some groups experiencing staggering levels of unemployment. Joblessness in New York State has increased by almost 400,000 since early 2008. How does this extreme growth in unemployment relate to Pennslyvania?

This map by Mark Price at the Keystone Research Center shows the deepening crisis of unemployment in Pennsylvania over the past few months. When we consider that official statistics on unemployment do not include those who become discouraged by the state of the job market and no longer look for work we can suspect these numbers are much worse.

In Washington, DC on Friday June 5 the Bureau of Labor Statistics released its monthly employment report showing a 9.4% unemployment rate for May as job losses continue to grow.  The number of unemployed individuals in the U.S. is now greater than at any time since the Great Depression.

May 8, 2009 - The Bureau of Labor Statistics released its monthly unemployment figures today.  The recent data show that the national unemployment rate continued to rise in April, reaching 8.9%.  This is the highest unemployment rate since 1983, and is a .4% increase from the unemployment rate of 8.5% in March of this year.