CALIFORNIA BUSINESS MINUTE
Labor Market
05-21-09
Hi, I am Tim Johnson and welcome to the California Business Minute.
The Labor Department released information on initial jobless claims illustrating
a decrease 12,000 to 631,000 for last week. The numbers were down from a revised
643,000 the prior week that was higher than initially estimated. While on the
surface, it seems like good news, actually, the total number of people collecting
benefits rose to 6.66 million, a record reading for a 16th straight week, and a
sign companies are still not hiring.
Factory shutdowns by Chrysler LLC and General Motors Corp. likely will continue
to inflate the claims figures until this summer, Labor Dept. economists said. The
shutdowns also could affect auto suppliers, which employ roughly 3 million workers.
More job cuts have been announced this week. American Express Co. said it will cut
about 4,000 jobs, while Medtronic Inc. announced it would eliminate up to 1,800
positions and Hewlett-Packard Co. identified it would cut 6,400 jobs.
Among the states, that had the largest increase in claims for the week Michigan’s
was the highest rising to 16,817, which it attributed to layoffs in the auto
industry. The next largest increases were in North Carolina, Virginia, Kentucky
and Pennsylvania.
California reported the largest decrease in claims of 10,052, which it said was
due to fewer layoffs in the service industry. The next largest decreases were in
Wisconsin, Kansas, Oklahoma and Washington.
California’s reduction however, may have more to do with the seasonality of
employment caused by agriculture this time of year.
I am Tim Johnson and this has been the California Business Minute.
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