Economic Fault Lines
In a recent video interview, the Institute for New Economic Thinking discussed the “fault lines” that led to the recent recession with noted economist Raghuram Rajan.
Policy Points
Around The Dial – 5/12/11
Economic policy reports, blog postings, and media stories of interest:
- Davide Leonhardt revisits the “rent vs. buy” debate.
- Ezra Klein rounds up eight facts about Social Security.
- Off the Charts looks at Social Security in an international context.
- Marshall Auerback makes the case for state revenue sharing.
- EPI argues for a focus on jobs, not the deficit.
NC Unemployment Claims: Week of 4/23
For the benefit week ending on April 23rd, 12,359 North Carolinians filed initial claims for state unemployment insurance benefits, and 111,524 individuals applied for state-funded continuing benefits. Compared to the prior week, there were more initial and continuing claims. These figures come from data released by the U.S. Department of Labor.
Averaging new and continuing claims over a four-week period — a process that helps adjust for seasonal fluctuations and better illustrates trends — shows that an average of 12,596 initial claims were filed over the previous four weeks, along with an average of 114,339 continuing claims. Compared to the previous four-week period, there were more initial and fewer continuing claims.
One year ago, the four-week average for initial claims stood at 13,417 and the four-week average of continuing claims equaled 182,246.
While the number of claims has dropped over the past year so has covered employment. Last week, covered employment totaled 3.7 million, down from 3.8 million a year ago.
The graph (right) shows the changes in unemployment insurance claims (as a share of covered employment) in North Carolina since the recession’s start in December 2007.
Both new and continuing claims appear to have peaked for this cycle, and the four-week averages of new and continuing claims have fallen considerably. Yet continuing claims remain at an elevated level, which suggests that unemployed individuals are finding it difficult to find new positions.
Job Openings In March
From the Economic Policy Institute’s analysis of the March version of the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) …
The total number of job openings in March was 3.1 million. The total number of unemployed workers was 13.5 million (unemployment is from the Current Population Survey). The ratio of unemployed workers to job openings was thus 4.3-to-1 in March, an improvement from the revised February ratio of 4.5-to-1. However, March marks two years and three months that the “job seeker’s ratio” has been substantially above 4-to-1. A job seeker’s ratio of 4-to-1 means that for three out of four unemployed workers, there simply are no jobs. The highest this ratio ever got in the early 2000s downturn was 2.8-to-1 in the middle of 2003.
Around The Dial – 5/11/11
Economic policy reports, blog postings, and media stories of interest:
- Economix notes the virtues of trial and error.
- Economist’s View worries about “premature austerity.”
- The Charlotte Observer reports on the state of Bank of America.
- Rortybomb points out that the problem not structural unemployment.
- Calculated Risk runs down the newest trade data.
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