South By North Strategies, Ltd.

NC Unemployment Claims: Week Of 6/16/12

For the benefit week ending on June 16, 2012,  some 10,791 North Carolinians filed initial claims for state unemployment insurance benefits and 99,763 individuals applied for state-funded continuing benefits. Compared to the prior week, there were fewer initial and more 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 10,800 initial claims were filed over the previous four weeks, along with an average of 99,597 continuing claims. Compared to the previous four-week period, the average number of initial claims was lower, as was  the average number of continuing claims .

One year ago, the four-week average for initial claims stood at 11,480,  and the four-week average of continuing claims equaled 108,019.

In recent weeks covered employment has increased and now exceeds the level recorded a year ago (3.8 million versus 3.7 million). Nevertheless, there are still fewer covered workers than there were in January 2008, which means that payrolls are smaller today than they were over four years ago.

The graph shows the changes in unemployment insurance claims measured 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.

Editor’s Note

Policy Points is taking a few days off to celebrate the Independence Day holiday. Posting will resume on July 6, 2012. Thanks for your interest in the blog

Around The Dial – July 2, 2012

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

• The New York Times reports on unemployment in the Eurozone.
• The News & Observer analyzes job growth in North Carolina.
• Economix explains “the price tags for parents.”
• Joseph Gagnon argues that “the Fed shirks its duties.”
• Simon Johnson flags more problems at the New York Fed.

The Impact Of “Obamacare”

A recent infographic from the Center for American Progress explores “how Obamacare impacts people of color.”

Skip The Fourth?

Naked Capitalism takes down the annoying tendency to attribute social and political outcomes to popular attitudes while ignoring the roles of structures and propaganda in producing those attitudes in the first place.

So while there is no easy way to turn to regain control of a cultural commons so throughly under the sway of well heeled corporate interests, perhaps we can start to engage in small acts of reprogramming. While I am not telling you to skip Fourth of July fireworks, it might be time to recognize key events that help us look at our history with fresh eyes. Perhaps we should quietly celebrate what we still have of the America our founders envisaged, say on the anniversary of the signing of the articles of Confederation (a protracted affair, with the last signature affixed on March 1, 1781) or their replacement with the Constitution on March 4, 1789. But regardless of how individuals go about it, the more we recognize how cultural memes are created and propagated, the more hope we have of freeing ourselves from them.