Labor Force

The percentage of Marylanders without jobs inched higher in May, but, thanks to the economic boom, the unemployment rate was still the lowest for the month in 10 years, state officials announced yesterday.About 3.6 percent of the state's work force was unemployed in May, up from 3.5 percent in April, according to the state Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation. But the unemployment rate is still a full percentage point lower than last year, and the lowest for May since 1989.State officials mainly attribute the slight increase to the seasonal influx of summer workers, which swelled the state's labor force in May by 17,400 people, to nearly 2.8 million.

EACH LABOR DAY America celebrates its progress as a great provider. Average real family income has risen by almost one percent a year for the past generation. Since World War II, the unemployment rate has risen above 8 percent for two periods -- for a couple months in 1975 and late 1981 through December 1983. This country's record of economic prosperity is unparalleled in the world.Some Eastern Europeans jokingly refer to the United States as the "wild west" because of our commitment to freedom in hiring and firing.

ORGANIZED LABOR won a major victory in the Teamsters strike against United Parcel Service. The union gained assurances that the company will create 10,000 full-time jobs, raise the pay of part-time and full-time workers and increase its contribution to the employee pensions.The company's only major success is the length of the contract -- five years -- which could promise customers a long period of stability, provided that a separate settlement with the Independent Pilots Association is signed later this year.

"Factory jobs are the future of America's young," Patrick J. Buchanan declared at a recent gathering of Republican presidential candidates in New Hampshire. The statement was vintage Buchanan: simple, reassuring -- and deeply nostalgic. He longs for the 1950s America of his youth, when the factories boomed and "we did teach right from wrong," as he said during a visit to Los Angeles. His mom stayed home and cooked meals of fried chicken and pumpkin pie with whipped cream. It was "in many ways a better time," he writes in his 1990 autobiography, "Right From the Beginning."

The news on Maryland's job front is good -- but not too good.Unemployment in Maryland fell 0.5 percent in December, but the dip to an impressive-sounding 4.5 percent rate came mostly because the state's labor force shrank by 31,000 workers, masking the loss of 16,000 jobs from November.An even 5.0 percent of Maryland's workers were out of work in November. "If unemployment fell, that's always good news," said Michael A. Conte, director of the University of Baltimore's Regional Economic Studies Program.

THE TIME when women's work was in the home is long past in this country, and the same trend holds true around the world.According to a new report from the International Labor Organization, by the year 2000, women will participate in the labor force in about the same percentage as men in many industrialized countries.In developing countries, where few women have the luxury of leisure, female workers will make up about one-third of the formal labor force by then.Considering their household responsibilities, women in most countries work longer hours.

SAN FRANCISCO -- Howard Summers would have been a great guest on the old TV quiz show, "I've Got a Secret."Mr. Summers, a 57-year-old product development engineer who was the victim of a job reshuffle at the Silicon Valley Group, has carefully stripped his resume of anything that would reveal his age.College graduation and employment dates are gone. His cover letters don't mention that he has 35 years of experience. Instead, he says he's been working only 15 years.After attending self-esteem workshops, Mr. Summers now concentrates on positive thinking exercises as he drives to interviews.

Carroll County's unemployment rate dropped 1 percent in March, even though slightly fewer county residents were working in March than in February.The decrease is due, in part, to a marked decline in the number of county residents who left the work force, state Department of Economic and Employment Development officials said Friday."

AS EARLY as the year 2010, Hispanics may become the U.S.' largest racial minority.Even sooner, possibly by the year 2000, most of the country's children will be Hispanic.This is why it is so disconcerting that while high school dropout rates of most racial and ethnic groups have declined over the past generation, that of Hispanics has shown little sign of decreasing.According to a U.S. General Accounting Office report, in 1990 the dropout rate for Hispanics between the ages of 16 and 24 was about 30 percent.

Consider the American worker: the highest productivity per person and per hour among the major developed countries, and the lowest wage-unit cost. As a result, American exports have doubled since 1985.Consider the American record of job creation: higher than nearly every one of the developed nation competitors, an increase of 5.5 million jobs over the past three years.And the work ethic: Americans toil more hours than workers in every developed country except Japan; 6 percent of U.S. workers have two or more jobs.

The job-hunter commented that he's afraid to check his e-mail and telephone messages for fear of employer rejections, and the people said amen. "Any shred of self-efficacy or faith in myself has been completely shredded," one similarly unemployed person wrote. Another responded: "It's really awful, isn't it? But it really isn't your fault, don't worry!" In this toughest job market in a generation, misery is looking for company - and it's easier than ever to find it online, where groups are springing up for out-of-work people to connect, commiserate and offer hard-earned advice.

Losses in the job market are finally showing real signs of moderating. But as with most other economic data these days, Friday's employment report sent mixed messages, suggesting that while the economy may be bottoming out, recovery will likely be slow, fitful and frustrating. The Department of Labor reported that the U.S. economy lost 247,000 jobs in July while the unemployment rate dipped to 9.4 percent from 9.5 percent. That was the smallest monthly decline in jobs since last August and provided clear evidence that the longer-term pace of job erosion is slowing markedly.

The economic crisis pushed Maryland's jobless rate to a 12-year high in October, the Labor Department said yesterday, but economists said even modest growth in the labor force kept unemployment from spiking further. Maryland's unemployment rate hit 5 percent for the first time since April 1996, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. It increased from 4.6 percent in September, on a seasonally adjusted basis, continuing a climb tied to turmoil in housing, credit and the financial markets.

Maryland's unemployment rate hit 4 percent last month for the first time in 2 1/2 years as the national slowdown continued to take its toll, the federal government said yesterday. The rate jumped from 3.6 percent in April, a big one-month leap. Still, economists say 4 percent isn't high unemployment by any means. It's substantially below the nationwide rate, which rose to 5.5 percent from 5 percent last month. Joblessness worsened in all states except Louisiana, the Labor Department said.

It's no secret that Americans are in denial when it comes to aging. Sales of Botox are booming, tummy tucks and eyelid lifts are common, and anti-aging creams and gels are multibillion-dollar businesses. So it should come as no surprise that Americans find it difficult to grasp that our population as a whole is maturing, that the median age is slowly climbing upward. This has serious consequences for our economy and our culture, and it also bears on the immigration issue now being debated.

Ten years after the nation's welfare laws were overhauled, forcing millions of poor, single mothers off public assistance and into the work force, the social outcomes have been mostly positive. More of these women are working and setting their own paths than ever before. Some troubling trends now threaten their long-term prospects, however. Though they earn more than they did on welfare, many remain poor, according to a recent study by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. Child poverty has increased in recent years as the number of children who receive public assistance has fallen.

Maryland employers added 5,600 jobs last month, a relatively strong performance, but the state's jobless rate inched up to 4.2 percent anyway, the U.S. Labor Department announced yesterday. Unemployment was 4.1 percent in October. By comparison, the nation's rate was 5 percent both months. The numbers are adjusted for seasonal variations. The state has added 48,900 jobs since November last year, a downshifting since the heady months of early summer, when the annual rate was flirting with 60,000 jobs.

CHICAGO - In a bit of good economic news that drew only limited attention, the Labor Department said yesterday that U.S. employers added a net 169,000 jobs in August, and the nation's unemployment rate declined to a four-year low of 4.9 percent. Yesterday's report of 169,000 new jobs for August landed short of the 190,000 that economists had been forecasting. But many elements were positive: The percentage of people in the work force rose 0.1 percentage point, to 66.2 percent, its highest level in two years.

Maryland employers added 11,800 jobs in June - one of the best performances in the country, the Labor Department reported yesterday. The June gain was the sixth-highest in the nation, trailing only Florida, California, New York, Virginia and Texas. And on a percentage basis, Maryland's 0.5 percent increase in June was the third highest. "While these are preliminary figures, I think it's safe to say that Maryland has transformed itself from .... a mere recovery mode and entered a phase of brisk growth," said John Hopkins, associate director for applied economics at RESI, Towson University's research and consulting unit.

Maryland employers added nearly 5,000 jobs last month, helping nudge the unemployment rate down to 4.2 percent, the U.S. Labor Department said yesterday. The agency also reported that the state's labor force of 2.9 million soared by 20,500 people in May, an unusually large monthly increase that could signal growing faith in the economy - though local economists warned that the figure is based on preliminary data and will probably be revised downward. Labor force and unemployment numbers are culled from a separate survey than job creation numbers, which explains why they don't add up. But everything points to the same conclusion about the economy, experts said.