Awww holy hell! I don't think we are in Kansas anymore.

Capes to the rescue!

Florida has spent $73,000 turning the unemployed into caped crusaders. You can't make this stuff up. Read about it here

Unemployment by the numbers...you better freshen up because we are in for a long haul.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704364004576132060812423814.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_LEFTTopOpinion

Thanks to the venerable Dr. Rothman for pointing this out.

The unemployment bill does NOT extend benefits beyond 99 weeks. It maintains the current structure for another 13 months.



http://www.calculatedriskblog.com/2010/12/tax-negotiations-no-help-for-99ers.html

It's offcial...it ended last June. Now, go back to looking for a job.

At 19 months from December 2007 until June 2009, that was the longest recession since, well, August 1929 until March 1933. Ending the recession is one thing. Recovery is quite another. Look at the attached graph. The humdinger recession of 1981-82 had employment return to the pre-recession peak 27 months after the recession started. Look at the recovery after the recession in 2001. It took 46 months to return to pre-recession employment. If we were to repeat that, full recovery would be on track for June 2013. I'm a betting man and I would not count on that if I were you. But I hope I'm wrong.



http://www.nber.org/cycles/sept2010.html

Larry Summers vs. Larry Summers

http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2010/07/22/summers-that-was-then-this-is-now/

Four views of structural unemployment.

http://www.economist.com/economics/by-invitation/guest-contributions/address_structural_unemployment_slowly_and_cautiously

The article presents one view. Then at the end of the article there are links to three others. All are worth the read.

Look at the graph from Jim Hamilton's blog...

Holy Toledo! I read the other day in the Wall Street Journal that it will take 250,000 new jobs a month for three years to lower the unemployment rate to 8%. That puts us at the middle of 2013. What are the odds? Look at how long it took to shake the recession of 2001 and a 2% increase in cyclical unemployment! I think we are in for a long hard sloggggggg.

I also include a piece that discusses if unemployment insurance increases the spell duration of unemployment.







http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704334604575338691913994892.html

This is a sign in the door of a bagel shop I frequently go to. Things have to be on the upswing!

Real neat interactive map on unemployment. Watch Vegas, Arizona and the whole west coast fade to black.

http://cohort11.americanobserver.net/latoyaegwuekwe/multimediafinal.html

From our friends at www.calculatedriskblog.com

New info....

http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/05/15/layoffs-arent-the-main-problem/?emc=eta1

Put it in persepective.

Here is some perspective re: February's jobs numbers. We have about 12 million people unemployed now. Not good. But that is about how many were unemployed in 1936 during the dark days of the Depression. See how our nation has changed? And roll this over in your mind. Say, just picking a number, China has 1 billion workers in their labor force. A 10% unemployment rate would put 100 million souls out on the street looking for work. Somehow 12 million doesn't sound so daunting does it?



http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/03/06/putting-a-months-job-losses-in-perspective/#more-1457

You really need to look at this interactive map.

Point your cursor at any county and it will tell you the data. Note how the southeast is getting clobbered. You can also switch the graphic to those counties which had housing prices rise above 175% of their 2000 values and see the wreckage.

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2009/03/03/us/20090303_LEONHARDT.html