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New York, NY, United States (AHN) – Some 31.5 million Americans are expected to travel more than 50 miles from home over Labor Day weekend, a 2.4 percent decline from 2010, according to AAA.

High gasoline prices, high hotel room rates and high unemployment have many Americans simply say “hi” to local beaches, local parks and their own backyard.

The national average for gasoline averaged $3.62 a gallon on Wednesday, a dollar more than last year. Domestic airfares are 9 percent higher this year than in 2010, averaging $320 round-trip, according to Travelocity. AAA estimated the number of leisure travelers flying this holiday weekend will drop 1.9 percent to about 2.5 million.

Flights were stalled and canceled earlier this week due to Hurricane Irene, which caused a backlog of passengers that still need to be booked .

Travelocity also reported that some hotel and room rates have come down as the weekend approaches. Bookings show that many are reluctant to leave home, so some last minute plans are still possible as bargains become available.

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Washington, D.C., United States (AHN) – Economists said that the chances of the U.S. entering into recession had grown higher. In a survey, the economists said the chances of a recession increased to 30 percent, which is twice as high compared to their forecast three months ago.

Even if the U.S. would avoid a recession, the economists said economic growth rate is expected to crawl at 2.5 percent, down from their April prediction of 3.1 percent. To reduce unemployment, the U.S. needs to register a minimum of 3 percent growth rate.

With these figures, they said that the joblessness rate would likely go down to a mere 8.8 percent next year from the current 9.1 percent. Their estimate is less rosy compared to their April forecast that unemployment would go down to 8.2 percent by middle of next year.

A quarter ago, prior to the U.S. credit ratings downgrade by Standard & Poor’s, economists forecast a strong recovery for the country for the last six months of 2011. They based their positive outlook on declining gasoline prices.

Outside the U.S., Morgan Stanley predicted a relatively low risk of a global recession. Jonathan Garner, chief Asian and emerging market strategist of Morgan Stanley, explained the low risk assessment to resilient commodities, central bank policies in developed nations and slowing inflation in emerging economies.

Because of the emerging markets offering better opportunities than those in developed economies, Morgan Stanley advised investors to shift their funds into developing market stocks.

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Washington, DC, United States (AHN) – The national unemployment rate for the month of July remained little unchanged at 9.1 while total nonfarm payroll employment rose by a modest 117,000, according to the monthly report by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Although the 117,000 jobs created during July was slightly better than anticipated, it was still not enough to keep up with growth in the number of working-age Americans, let alone make a dent in the unemployment figures. Economists say the nation must create from 120,000 to 200,000 jobs monthly to keep up with people entering the labor market for the first time.

In addition, the percentage of working-age Americans who held either a part- or full-time job continued its slide in July, falling to 63.9 percent from 64.2 percent in June. Moreover, about 8.4 million people were involuntarily employed part-time for economic reasons in July, including people whose hours have been cut back or who have been unable to find full-time work, or about the same numbers as in June.

The gain of 117,000 jobs came from openings in health care, retail trade, manufacturing and mining while federal, state and local governments continue to shed jobs.

Unemployment rates among major groups stood at:

• Adult men 9.0 percent
• Adult women 7.9 percent
• Teenagers 25.0 percent
• Whites 8.1 percent
• Blacks 15.9 percent
• Hispanics 11.3 percent

In addition, the number of people who were unemployed for less than 5 weeks dropped by 387,000 in July while the number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks and longer) remained little changed at 6.2 million. Some 44.4 percent of the unemployed are long-term.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics also revised some figures from earlier months. It revised the total nonfarm payroll employment for May from +25,000 to +53,000 and for June revised employment from +18,000 to +46,000.

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Dallas, TX, United States (AHN) – In the past 24 months from June 2009 to June 2011, Texas accounted for half of the 524,000 payroll gains of the U.S., data from the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas and the Bureau of Labor Statistics said.

Payrolls in the state went up 2.9 percent since the recession ended two years ago, which is third behind North Dakota and Alaska, but far larger than the national average growth rate of 0.4 percent. Texas has an 8.2 percent unemployment rate, which is better than the national average of 9.2 percent.

Economists explained the faster pace of jobs generation in the Lone Star state to high energy prices which resulted in more oil drilling activities, growing exports and the state’s conservative banking sector which protected Texas from a major housing crash.

According to the BLS, regional and state unemployment rates hardly changed last month, with 28 states and the District of Columbia registering hikes in unemployment rate. For June, Texas logged a 32,000 increase in its payroll, which is the largest among the states.

It was followed by California (28,000), Michigan (18,000) and Minnesota (13,200).

The biggest losers were Tennessee (18,900), Missouri (15,700), Virginia (14,600) and North Carolina (9,500).

Texas’ job creation performance works in favor of Gov. Rick Perry, who has indicated he may run for the Republication nomination for the presidency. Observers said that if he aims for higher office, Perry would likely cite his record in creating jobs in the state when other states are suffering from high unemployment rates as one of his achievements.

State officials pointed out that Texas’ higher-than-expected payroll gains is because of a pro-business climate that Perry created which drew companies from other states where the cost of doing business is much higher.

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Washington, D.C., United States (AHN) – Initial jobless claims dropped slightly to 405,000 for the week ending July 9, but still stubbornly remained above the 400,000 mark signaling that the US still has not entered a jobs sector recovery.

According to the US department of Labor, the number of first time jobless workers seeking unemployment compensation insurance benefits was down by 22,000 from the previous week’s revised figure of 427,000.

The less volatile 4-week moving average dropped by 3,750 to 423,250 from the previous week’s revised average of 427,000.

However, the total number of jobless Americans claiming benefits in all programs for the week ending June 25 showed an increase of 25,333 to 7,484,894.

Figures for the largest increase in first time jobless workers are from the week ending July 2 because it is the most recent week for which such data is available. Those states were:

• New York (+6,220)
• Minnesota (3,319)
• Kentucky (2,997)
• Massachusetts (+2,232), and
• California (+1,941)

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Washington, D.C., United States (AHN) – New unemployment claims remain stubbornly high at 427,000 for the week ending June 4, which were 1,000 more than the previous week.

Economists generally agree that initial claims for unemployment compensation insurance must drop below the 400,000 mark weekly and stay there before there is a recovery in the jobs sector of the United State’s economy. But claims have been stuck above that mark for nine weeks now.

Although the nation officially came out of recession two years ago, so far the economic recovery has been limited to the financial services sector of the economy with the jobs and small business sectors still struggling.

The U.S. only created 54,000 jobs last month, which is well below the 200,000 jobs the economy needs to create monthly just for first time workers. In addition, competition for jobs is stiff. With only 3 million openings nationwide, there are at least 4.6 jobless Americans for every available job.

Moreover, the less volatile four-week moving average for first time jobless claims is still stuck above the 400,000 mark at 424,000, a small decrease of 2,750 from the previous week’s revised average of 426,750, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.

The total number of people claiming benefits in all programs for the week ending May 21, the latest week for which such data is available, fell slightly to 7,601,344, down by 89,233 from the week before.

However, that does not necessarily mean those people found jobs. Jobless benefits limits can end before a person finds work. In addition, that is more likely to happen in the future as many states move to cut the number of weeks a jobless worker can collect unemployment compensation insurance payments.

 

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Though the May Department of Labor jobs report showed an anemic 54,000 new jobs and an unemployment rate now 9.1 percent, the prospect for new college graduates about to enter the work force may be better than it was over the last few years.

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Let’s face it, being unemployed stinks. If you are unemployed, it doesn’t matter if the gradually descending unemployment rate indicates signs of economic recovery.

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Japan’s unemployment rate in April rose for the first time in six months, while the nation’s factory output rebounded.

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Unemployment was a mixed bag for Tennessee counties in April. According to data from the Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development, unemployment increased in 41 counties during April …

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