South By North Strategies, Ltd.

Trade Adjustment Assistance

An April study by the National Employment Law Project considers how changes to the federal Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) made by the recovery act have altered use of the program.

From the report:

Numbers of TAA petitions and certifications have increased since the passage of the 2009 TAA amendments. Nationwide, 4851 Trade Adjustment Assistance petitions were filed in 2009—a 96 percent increase in number of petitions over 2008 and a 122 percent increase over 2007 …. Throughout 2009, the U.S. Department of Labor certified 2175 petitions covering over 240,714 workers. In comparison, in 2008 there were 1599 TAA certifications.
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Examining just the time period between the effective date of the 2009 TAA amendments (May 18, 2009), and the most recent data available from U.S. Department of Labor online (May 8, 2010), there have been 4469 petitions filed under the “new” TAA program, with 2507 of those certified for TAA eligibility. This figure represents a significant expansion of TAA activity.

Around The Dial – May 25

Economic policy reports, blog postings, and media stories of interest:

• The Atlantic estimates the net wealth of U.S. presidents.
• Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner plays basketball in China.
• Calculated Risk analyzes the weak existing home sales report.
• The New York Times reports on the scarcity of child care subsidies.
• The Asheville Citizen-Times analyzes wage trends in Western North Carolina.

The Volcker Rule Explained

In a recent MSNBC segment, Mike Konczal of the Roosevelt Institute explained the so-called “Volcker Rule.”

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Unemployment Insurance Recipiency

A recent analysis by the Economic Policy Institute found that “only 67% of the unemployed workers in the U.S. were collecting unemployment insurance in the fourth quarter of 2009.”  This high recipiency rate is attributable to the emergency federal extensions, and without them, ” fewer than half of the country’s unemployed would be collecting unemployment.”

The map below shows recipiency rates by state during the fourth quarter of 2009.

Around The Dial – May 24

Economic policy reports, blog postings, and media stories of interest:

• Paul Krugman looks “down the memory hole.”
• The News & Record (NC) asks if data centers are the new textile mills.
• The San Francisco Chronicle reports on problems with loan modifications.
• Robert Reich explains the politics of “closing tax loopholes for billionaire.”