Unemployment

Europe's single currency is a bust. With unemployment reaching depression levels in the Mediterranean states, time has long passed to negotiate an orderly return to national currencies. Euro advocates argue a single currency is essential for creating a unified continental economy, and the euro is falling short of expectations because monetary union was initiated without fiscal union - namely, sovereign taxing and spending authority for Brussels. Those arguments are little more than polemics from politicians, public servants and pundits who have staked their reputations and careers on a failed economic idea.

Europe's single currency is a bust. With unemployment reaching depression levels in the Mediterranean states, time has long passed to negotiate an orderly return to national currencies. Euro advocates argue a single currency is essential for creating a unified continental economy, and the euro is falling short of expectations because monetary union was initiated without fiscal union - namely, sovereign taxing and spending authority for Brussels. Those arguments are little more than polemics from politicians, public servants and pundits who have staked their reputations and careers on a failed economic idea.

Ah, another person writes in with the true skinny on why people in "the real world" will never get off unemployment ("Payroll taxes and unemployment benefits: two bad decisions," Dec. 28). Funny, all the people I know who are unemployed are trying their best to get a job. And though grateful for the assistance, they are finding it difficult to make ends meet even with their unemployment checks - all of which, let it be noted, go right back into the economy. Charles Rammelkamp, Baltimore

They're facing high unemployment, depressed wages and loads of debt — and they're only in their 20s. Welcome to life after college. Though the labor market is recovering slowly, graduates this spring have only slightly better chances of landing jobs than grads did in the depths of the recession, experts say. Over the last year, unemployment has averaged 9.4 percent for college graduates under age 25. Meanwhile, researchers at the Washington-based Economic...

The release of the May jobs report by the Labor Department on Friday showed that only 54,000 jobs had been added last month, down from 232,000 in April, and that unemployment had risen from 9 percent to 9.1 percent. In stark contrast to these numbers, your article "Turnover at the workplace is on the rise" (June 4) paints a rosy picture of the currently employed cheerfully choosing between the plentiful opportunities offered on CareerBuilder.com. Is this the type of news and analysis we readers can now expect from The Baltimore Sun?

I run a small business - about 20 employees - in the Baltimore area. We are a manufacturing company in the construction industry. I have worked extremely hard and sacrificed my own pay to keep our people employed over the last five years. I have not had a layoff and had previously earned a low unemployment tax rate. It used to be 1 percent. In 2011 it was up to 4.463 percent and I got a letter this week saying it will be 11.99 percent for 2012. It is ridiculous that I am shouldering the costs of all others.

Maryland business groups dismayed by Gov. Martin O'Malley's proposal to expand unemployment benefits, which could cost companies an estimated $20 million a year, are negotiating ways to offset the expense. O'Malley said last month that he wants the state to broaden the qualifying period for benefits so that the state can access about $127 million in federal money to prop up its quickly shrinking unemployment insurance fund. The change requires legislation. Business groups have balked at O'Malley's proposal to implement what's called the "alternative base period," which increases the period of time that is examined when determining whether someone is eligible for unemployment benefits.

Maryland employers will continue paying the maximum rates for unemployment insurance next year because the amount of money in the state trust fund for jobless benefits hasn't improved enough to trigger a decrease. The state Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation will make an official calculation shortly, but officials there said Thursday that the $271 million fund balance falls far short of the $510 million needed to automatically drop the rates to a lower tax table. Employers will continue paying $187 to $1,147.

It was in early September 2010, and I was serving in Afghanistan, helping to plan our mission to support that country's parliamentary elections. Offhandedly, a colleague asked whether I was going to return to my civilian job when I returned home. I replied, "I don't think so. " Surprised, he asked what I planned to do instead. Confidently, I shrugged him off, "I don't know. I'm sure something will shake loose. " We returned to the Unites States in December 2010 and were assured that we were not going to be forgotten.

The number of Americans filing first-time claims for jobless benefits fell slightly last week, marking the second consecutive decline.The Labor Department said yesterday that new claims forunemployment benefits dropped by 3,000 to a seasonally adjusted 332,000, the lowest level in four weeks. That followed a drop of 60,000 claims the week before -- the biggest one-week improvement in a year.But analysts cautioned against reading too much into the latest figures. The declines largely represent the aftermath of an increase of 43,000 claims two weeks earlier after General Motors Corp.

When Mark Chewning was a kid, he dreamed of being an artist. But at some point, the Baltimore resident's dream became all but dormant, giving way to about 27 years in the photograph-retouching business and a stint as supermarket deli clerk, as well as marriage, parenting, unemployment, divorce and self-doubt. Last week, Chewning, 54, was honored as the Student of the Year at Howard Community College. The single parent says his dream of becoming an artist will probably never come to fruition.

Europe is in recession. Portugal, Italy and Greece are basket cases. The British and Spanish economies have contracted for the last two quarters. It seems highly likely that France and Germany are in a double dip as well. Why should we care? Because a recession in the world's third-largest economy (Europe) combined with the current slowdown in the world's second-largest (China), spells trouble for the world's largest (that's still us). Remember, it's a global economy. Money moves across borders at the speed of an electronic impulse.

If you're looking for job security, how about becoming a lawyer or financial analyst? These professions, according to Robert Half International, have lower unemployment rates than the current national average of 8.3 percent. The staffing firm says the unemployment rate in the first quarter was 1.9 percent for lawyers, 3.6 percent for software developers, 3.9 percent for financial analysts, 4.4 percent for accountants and 2.8 percent for human resource managers. (Someone has to be there to lay off everyone else.)

Maryland employers added 1,500 jobs in March — thanks entirely to growth in the private sector — but the state's unemployment rate inched up as the pool of would-be workers expanded more rapidly. The jobless rate was 6.6 percent in March, up from 6.5 percent in February, the U.S. Department of Labor estimated Friday. That's because the labor force, the number of adults working or looking for work, grew by 4,200 people in March, according to the agency. An improving economic situation typically brings out more job seekers, as people who had been discouraged by earlier difficulties get back in the hunt.

The Obama administration and the liberal news media continues to keeps up their line that the unemployment rate is between 8 percent 9 percent. Don't believe it, as nothing could be further from the truth. The real unemployment rate ranges close to 15 percent or 16 percent because of the Obama's administration failed economic policies of the past three years. The administration's fuzzy math does not reflect the millions who simply quit looking for work or gave up on finding full time jobs.

Maryland's employers added 8,000 jobs in February, the latest sign of the state's economic recovery, labor officials said Friday. It's the sixth month in a row of jobs gains. The state's jobless rate remained unchanged at 6.5 percent from a month earlier, but that's nearly 2 percentage points lower than the 8.3 percent national average, preliminary figures from the U.S. Department of Labor show. "Employment is at its highest level since September 2008," Maryland Labor Secretary Alexander Sanchez said during a conference call.

Stabilizing Maryland's unemployment system is crucial to the state's economy and business community. The Maryland Chamber of Commerce appreciates the O'Malley administration's focus on this important issue. While the administration's proposal has some merit, the Maryland Chamber disagrees with The Sun's recent editorial ("Expanding benefits is worth the price," Dec. 21). Deferring more than $80 million in unemployment insurance tax increases and expanding benefits to access $126.8 million from the federal government sounds appealing.

The U.S. Department of Labor said Thursday that Maryland will get $126.8 million in federal money because it expanded the number of people eligible for unemployment benefits. The move was expected: State legislators changed the program guidelines in the past session with an eye toward qualifying for the "modernization" incentive money. U.S. Labor Secretary Hilda L. Solis praised the state Thursday, saying that offering unemployment checks to more out-of-work people "is the right thing to do."

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.

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.