Crash Survival Zone

In my recent series, Economic Indicators during the Roaring Twenties and Great Depression, I concluded that the indicators that were studied from the Deflationary period of 1920-1950 suggested that this recession might bottom out in about Q3 2009. But with anemic wage growth to say the least, such a weakly based recovery might be doomed [...]

Ten years ago, Facebook didn’t exist. Ten years before that, we didn’t have the Web. So who knows what jobs will be born a decade from now? Though unemployment is at a 25‑year high, work will eventually return. But it won’t look the same. No one is going to pay you just to show up. [...]

Legions of women will have little time to mark Mother’s Day this year. They will be busy working weekend jobs as they step up to being their families’ primary wage earners.

Economists say this recession is reshaping the financial roles of millions of women whose husbands have lost jobs. Since the recession began in December 2007, [...]

The Obama administration’s fiscal stimulus plan will meet previous estimates to save 3.5 million U.S. jobs by the end of 2010, but the unemployment rate at that time may be higher due to further deterioration in the economy, a senior administration official said on Monday.

The official said the administration was monitoring closely the results of [...]

A measure of U.S. job prospects in April showed the smallest decline in almost a year, indicating firings may be abating, a private report showed.

The Conference Board’s Employment Trends Index last month decreased 0.7 percent to 89.5, the smallest decrease since June 2008, from 90.1 in March, the New York-based research group said today. The [...]

Post-recession America may be saddled with high unemployment even after good times finally return.
Hundreds of thousands of jobs have vanished forever in industries such as auto manufacturing and financial services. Millions of people who were fired or laid off will find it harder to get hired again and for years may have to accept lower [...]

By Paul Krugman

Wages are falling all across America.

Some of the wage cuts, like the givebacks by Chrysler workers, are the price of federal aid. Others, like the tentative agreement on a salary cut here at The Times, are the result of discussions between employers and their union employees. Still others reflect the brute fact of [...]

Keeping the unemployed busy is an exercise in denial — and social control.

By Barbara Ehrenreich

In most parts of the world, from Paris to Beijing, mass unemployment brings the specter of mass social unrest. Not here, though, where 13 million people have accepted joblessness with nary a peep of protest.
Many reasons — from Prozac to Pentecostalism [...]

This animated map provides a striking visual of employment trends over the last business cycle using net change in jobs from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics on a rolling 12-month basis.

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Tip Strategies

Job loss is tough at any age, and even more so if you’re age 45+. If you’ve just lost your job, what should you do first? If you’ve been out of work for a while, how do you stay positive and move forward during the job-search journey?

Now a free AARP webinar can help you:

* Create [...]