News Supplement: Jobs and the Economy

This week's supplement to the IMDiversity.com Career Center AP New Headlines again places focus on the jobs and the loss thereof in the nation's continuing economic meltdown.

AP Economics Writer CHRISTOPHER S. RUGABER reports that the number of new claims for jobless benefits increased by more than expected in mid-October, "and companies from Goldman Sachs to Yahoo have announced thousands of layoffs in the past few days as the financial crisis, tighter credit, rising foreclosures and myriad other woes take their toll on the economy."

And, of course, former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan predicted last week that there's plenty more pain to follow.

Nonetheless, it appears that many people are showing "a remarkable...optimism despite economists' widespread expectations that a serious recession is brewing," says a related report by ALAN FRAM. According to an AP-GFK Poll, "Most expect the economy to generally be better and the stock market to be rising three months from now," but "Majorities also doubt unemployment will fall or home values will rise by then, and people are split over whether their personal finances will improve."

It seems that while most people believe that economic conditions will improve, they are prepared to have to wait for at least a year before "more jobs and higher real estate values" will start improving their own financial conditions on Main Street.

There seems little doubt that this optimism has much to do with election-year fever. As followers of the "hope and change" candidate, supporters of Barack Obama seem to project a somewhat rosier future. Forty-four percent of those polled said they think the economy will improve if Democrat Obama is elected, while 34 percent said it would get better if Republican John McCain wins.

In a sidebar, the candidates' own statements on jobless claims both tend to lay blame squarely on the Bush administration, and a second sidebar comapres their healthcare plans at a glance.

In light of this continuing bad news, the AP has also been running a series of practical nuts-and-bolts focused on navigating unemployment and belt-tightening. An additional piece explains upcoming IRS changes in 2009 that may raise limits on contributions to 401(k) and SEP plans. Also useful are writer David Pitt's "Tips for benefits enrollment season".

Another casualty of the economic crisis, adds Business Writer Joyce Rosenberg, may well be your usual year-end bonus or holiday gifts.

Need help making sense of all the wildly yo-yo-ing jobless claims news coming from the DoL? (And who doesn't?) Meltdown 101: Jobless Claims and the Economy (also by Christopher Rugaber) provides a series of succinct Q&As on how to interpret reported data.

See all the readings in the current supplement.