While recent reports showed that August was the best month in a long time as far as the rate of job losses goes, analysts expect that the unemployment rate will not shrink back down to a normal 5 percent until 2014. Currently, the unemployment rate sits at 9.7 percent, up a staggering amount from its position only two years ago at 4.7 percent.
The unemployment rate could continue to soar into the double digits by the end of 2009, breaking 10 percent and signaling truly dire straits for the economy. According to the Department of Labor, the number of job seekers …read more

As any economist would tell you, any nationwide financial crisis will probably be accompanied by a rise in unemployment levels, and he would not have to think far back to offer an example. Although today’s financial crisis may not be close to ending, new evidence shows that unemployment may finally be shrinking rather than growing.
According to figures released by the Labor Department, the number of unemployment insurance applications has fallen by 4,000 to 621,000 from last week to this week. These numbers correlate with Labor Department predictions. Also, the Labor Department has also noticed a rise in worker productivity, a …read more

Despite signs of improvement in the economy, unemployment numbers continue to soar according to the latest report from payroll firm ADP. This report indicates that in the month of May, 532,000 workers were cut from their payroll on all levels of business combined.
According to the report, 100,000 of these jobs were from large businesses, 223,000 from medium-sized businesses, and 209,000 jobs from small businesses. Job losses between the goods-producing sector and the service-producing sector were almost even, with 267,000 and 265,000 job losses respectively.
The government will publish its take on the situation on Friday when the Labor Department releases its …read more