NC Unemployment Claims: Week Of 4/7/12
For the benefit week ending on April 7, 2012, some 12,112 North Carolinians filed initial claims for state unemployment insurance benefits and 105,601 individuals applied for state-funded continuing benefits. Compared to the prior week, there were more 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 10,511 initial claims were filed over the previous four weeks, along with an average of 106,736 continuing claims. Compared to the previous four-week period, the average number of initial claims was higher, and the average number of continuing claims was lower.
One year ago, the four-week average for initial claims stood at 12,698, and the four-week average of continuing claims equaled 118,693.
In recent weeks covered employment has increased and now exceeds the level recorded a year ago (3.75 million versus 3.71 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.
Around The Dial – April 30, 2012
Economic policy reports, blog postings, and media stories of interest:
- Eduardo Porter looks at Social Security Disability payments.
- Mark Thoma points out that the US is a relatively low-wage country.
- The Center for American Progress weighs the link between federal taxes and inequality.
- The New York Times reports on Apple’s efforts at tax avoidance.
Changing Migration Patterns
The PBS NewsHour reports on changes in patterns of Mexican migration to the United States.
Watch Pew Report: Mexican Migration Into U.S. Has Slowed on PBS. See more from PBS NewsHour.
Send A Letter, Enrich Civic Life
Writing in The Atlantic, historian Joseph Adelman points out that “the postal service is a civic institution, not a business.”
Understanding the core mission of the Post Office — as part of a communications infrastructure for political debate and civic participation — should lead us to reframe the questions we ask about the future of the USPS. Making changes to the USPS’s structure are clearly necessary in order to ensure its ability to meet its obligations. But the historical context should lead us to ask much larger questions about government’s role in protecting the free circulation of information.
…
In the 18th century, the government committed itself to guaranteeing the free flow of information throughout the nation as part of a project to ensure mass participation in civic life, linking the Post Office with the protection of a free press. The decline in mail volume points to a certain inevitability about the commercial success of the USPS. But more broadly we must carefully consider the value of publicly owned, freely available channels of communication. Should the Post Office cease to exist, we will lose the last public guarantor of free communication in the United States.
Around The Dial – April 27, 2012
Economic policy reports, blog postings, and media stories of interest:
- The NY Times provides more proof of the need for health insurance reform.
- TaxVox finds the GOP’s proposed small business ta cut to be very un-GOP.
- The News & Observer notes the end of some long-term unemployment benefits.
- The NC Budget & Tax Center points out the extent of wage stagnation.
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