Jobless

Even as unemployment benefits expired Monday for tens of thousands of jobless workers, Democrats and Republicans renewed their haggling over whether to vote for an extension when Congress returns from its spring break next week. In the latest round of skirmishing, Senate Democrats rejected Republican charges that they had backed away from a GOP proposal to give quick approval to a one-week extension that would be paid for with budget offsets. "There were a lot of conversations going on and things were moving very quickly, but no deals were made," said Jim Manley, a spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Democrat from Nevada.

Many long-term unemployed have discovered an ugly truth: You need a job to get one. Jobless workers across the country have recounted tales of being written off by a prospective employer if they have been out of work for six months or more. And some job ads have explicitly stated that a candidate must be currently employed. Now Maryland has joined a growing number of states considering legislation to prevent employers from discriminating against the unemployed. "It's about changing minds or changing attitudes, and then changing behaviors of the employers and the people who represent the employers," says Jackie Gray, a Baltimore resident who co-founded an advocacy group, Unemployed Rising, and supports the legislation.

WASHINGTON - In a hopeful sign for the economy, the number of newly laid-off workers filing claims for unemployment benefits fell below 500,000 last week for the first time since January. Consumer spending also picked up in October, and new-home sales hit their highest point in more than a year. Combined, the news suggested that the economy should be able to sustain at least a modest rebound. The number of people filing first-time claims for jobless aid fell by 35,000 to 466,000, the Labor Department said Wednesday.

Maryland's unemployment rate in January fell to the lowest level in three years, reflecting an improving economy that spurred the state's employers to add 5,000 jobs during the month, the U.S. Department of Labor announced Tuesday. The state's jobless rate dropped to 6.5 percent, nearly 2 percentage points lower than the 8.3 percent national average, preliminary figures for January indicate. It is the fifth straight month that Maryland added jobs and saw an improving jobless rate.

The number of employed Maryland residents has fallen so sharply that it's hit a low not seen in nearly a decade. Last month, 2.7 million adults in the state had jobs - about 135,000 fewer than the year before, according to newly released U.S. Labor Department estimates. Not since November 2001 have so few Marylanders been employed, and the decline happened even as the overall population grew. The economic downshifting has been rapid, overtaxing the state's unemployment benefits fund and making job seekers re-evaluate whether it's even worth looking.

To measure the U.S. unemployment rate, the Census Bureau periodically selects 60,000 households, chosen to represent different age, racial and income groups reflecting the population.A participating household is surveyed for four consecutive months, dropped for eight, then returned for a final four months.Selected households are notified by mail. Initial interviews are done in person and later ones by phone. They last 10 minutes.Questions involve age, sex, race, occupation, industry of employment, number of hours worked and whether unemployed workers quit or were fired.

Diane Massey hates the reason her office was given more federal money to operate next year: More county residents are unemployed."I hope people begin to realize it's not just their neighbor's problem," said the head of the county's job training office. "I could be next. You could be next. No one's job is secure."The county's portion of the federal grant to help the unemployed will more than triple for fiscal 1993, which begins July 1.The county will receive $329,599; this year, it received $100,000, said Massey.

Maryland's unemployment rate stayed at 4.9 percent in April, after adjustments for seasonal hiring variations, state officials said yesterday.The proportion of jobless workers here is substantially less than in the country at large. The U.S. unemployment rate is 5.7 percent.One economist said the economic slowdown that appears imminent nationally doesn't seem quite so close to Maryland."Maryland's future for the first time in quite a while looks to be a little brighter than the country as a whole," said Michael Conte, head of the Regional Economic Studies Program at the University of Baltimore.

Maryland's unemployment rate barely changed in May, inching up to a seasonally adjusted 5.0 percent from 4.9 percent in April, but still a half-point less than the national rate of 5.5 percent, state officials said yesterday.Maryland ended 1994 with a seasonally adjusted jobless rate of 4.7 percent. Analysts expect little change in state unemployment until next year, when federal budget cuts could put more people out of work."For the balance of the year, I think it'll be just about where it is now," said Robert Sweet, chief economist for First National Bank of Maryland.

For the second straight month, Carroll's unemployment rate decreased, falling 1.1 percentage points in April, state figures show.The county's jobless rate for April -- the latest month for which figuresare available -- was 5.5 percent, down from 6.6 percent in March, according to statistics released Friday by the Maryland Department of Economic and Employment Development."

The owner of the Sparrows Point steel mill has told state unemployment insurance officials that about 720 workers at the Baltimore County plant are being furloughed and are expected back on the job March 4. Managers started telling workers last Thursday not to show up for work this week in what was described then as an "indefinite" layoff, plant employees told The Baltimore Sun. The plant's owner, RG Steel, did not give Maryland officials notice...

A Maryland financier who helped privatize the Seagirt Marine Terminal in 2009 is trying to sell Congress on an ambitious, $250 billion plan he says would modernize the nation's crumbling infrastructure while creating millions of jobs. Christopher H. Lee, whose investment firm owns the company managing the terminal, is pressing lawmakers on Capitol Hill to create an independent board that would oversee billions of dollars in highway, airport and mass transit projects. His plan also calls for speeding government approval of those projects.

Opponents of continuing the extension of unemployment insurance often make one of the following arguments: (1) the program is welfare for the undeserving; (2) it subsidizes leisure and is a major contributor to the high unemployment rate; or (3) the extension does little to create jobs. The critics have it wrong on all counts. The mischaracterization of unemployment insurance as welfare is a fundamental misunderstanding of the program — and insurance in general. Welfare is society's means of ensuring that the poorest among us have their basic needs taken care of, regardless of prior contributions to the system.

Beware of outside websites claiming they want to help you file for unemployment benefits. The Maryland Department of Labor, Licensing & Regulation's unemployment insurance division warns these sites can collect personal information about you and possibly leave you open to identity theft. The state named one of the sites, Unemployment Help Center, in a press release. The only way to apply for unemployment benefits, the state says, is directly through the state's unemployment insurance division's website or by calling its office at 410-949-0022 or 800-827-4839.

Maryland's unemployment rate improved in October as employers added 3,100 jobs, a bit of good news for residents to chew on heading into Thanksgiving and — retailers hope — holiday shopping. The state's jobless rate dropped to 7.2 percent from 7.4 percent in September, the U.S. Department of Labor said Tuesday. The job growth estimates suggest that 60 percent of the net gains came from the private sector in October, with most of the rest coming from state government agencies.

Unemployment in this recession could have long-term ripple effects because many more of the long-term unemployed are educated, middle age and middle class. Retirement systems will face the consequences of lower contributions and early retirements. Parents are having trouble funding college as they lose income. Those previously with stable credit can't pay mortgages and other obligations. The presence of so many older, educated people among the ranks of the unemployed requires a nuanced policy response.

Carroll's jobless rate rose from 4.7 percent in October to 5.4 percent in November, throwing almost 500 more people into unemployment lines.Carroll joined every other Maryland county in experiencing a rise in unemployment, according to November figures released Friday bythe state Department of Economic and Employment Development.In Carroll, 3,481 people were unemployed, up from 2,987 in October.The county's civilian labor force, which includes people with jobs and those actively seeking work, increased by 274 people, from 63,918 in October to 64,192 in November.

New York. -- The new emergency unemployment compensation law, like the one before it, both gives and takes away. It gives up to 26 more weeks of jobless pay to certain people who are out of work. And to finance those extended benefits, it takes money away from the rest of us.As dictated by the budget agreement of 1990, all new spending has to be offset -- on paper, at least -- by higher tax collections, to remind us that government benefits cost real money.If you're unemployed, take careful note of exactly who qualifies for emergency aid. You get it if you've exhausted your basic state benefits and haven't already had a run of extended unemployment pay. Barbara Farmer, director of the office of program management for the federal Unemployment Insurance Service, says that unemployment offices are getting calls from people who previously got extended benefits, hoping to qualify again.

Four years into the financial crisis, foreclosure numbers remain daunting, with nearly 80,000 U.S. households receiving default notices for the first time in August. But help might be at hand, now that the Obama administration is requiring mortgage servicers to offer up to 12 months of payment "forbearance" to homeowners who have lost their jobs. The idea is to give borrowers breathing room while they seek work in a difficult job market. And with 111,000 people out of work in the Baltimore area as of August, the need is certainly great locally.

There is a boom in baby boomer joblessness. It has more than doubled, from 3.2 percent to 6.8 percent, since the recession began. Earlier this week, a CBS Evening News report focused on the plight of unemployed professionals ages 55 and older in the Charlotte, N.C. area. Even the most organized among them - like those who make looking for a job a full-time job - can't find work. One of the people interviewed has a Harvard MBA but no job. Another, a 56-year-old financial professional, works long days trying to place himself in a new job, with no luck so far. He told reporter Byron Pitts that he has resigned himself to working into his 70s. We hear this all the time, don't we?