Tag Archives: unemployment

Embiggen the below graph to see how Forbes Magazine has ranked the stress levels of the 40 biggest metropolitan areas in the country, based on unemployment, housing prices, population density, air quality, and weather. Full chart here. Chicago is the most nerve-wracking, Austin is the least. My hometown of Orlando lands near the middle at 28.(Via – See My Briefs)

With so many of NYC’s unemployed spending their idle time in coffeehouses, hovering for hours over their laptops, shop owners are beginning to put their foot down. Amid the economic downturn, there are fewer places in New York to plug in computers. As idle workers fill coffee-shop tables — nursing a single cup, if that, and surfing the Web for …

NYC is 42 on the list. (Via – Derek Thompson)

Today the wingnut-o-sphere is awash in “the gaystapo got her!” posts about the firing of Carrie Prejean. But here’s an example of Prejean’s emailed responses to painfully polite requests that she honor her contract. From: cprejeanXXXXSent: Friday, May 29, 2009 7:57 AMTo: Keith LewisSubject: Re: Messages You do not cooperate with me, and you pick and chose the the things …

If being jobless has you down, Pfizer wants to perk you up. Pfizer Inc. says it will provide 70 of its most widely prescribed prescription drugs — including Lipitor and Viagra — for free to people who have lost their jobs and health insurance. The world’s biggest drugmaker said Thursday it will give away the medicines for up to a …

Supermarkets around the nation throw out tons of edible food every day to comply with expiration rules. An entire “freegan” movement has sprung up in which people dumpster-dive behind these stores to rescue the most usable items. Here in NYC, an interesting discussion has arisen because Whole Foods fired an employee for theft after he set aside a garbage-destined tuna …

The Czech Republic has come up with a novel way to deal with unemployment. The Czech Republic will offer a free plane ticket and 500 euros ($649) to foreign workers who voluntarily agree to return home after losing their jobs in the economic downturn, the government said on Monday. The sweeteners are among measures to cope with security risks stemming …

More grim news today on job cuts around the country. American companies announced job cuts totaling 43,000 this morning, as the global downturn slammed the profits of exporters like Caterpillar and a domestic recession hit hard at retailer Home Depot. As companies begin announcing their financial results for the end of 2008, they are also moving fast to cut costs …

So many people have filed for unemployment in 2009, the state of New York has had to borrow money from the feds to pay the claims. Despite paying lower benefits to its jobless residents than other Northeastern states, the state’s unemployment fund has been borrowing about $90 million a week from the federal unemployment trust fund, state officials said. The …

The December unemployment numbers are out and things are worse than feared.. The nation’s unemployment rate bolted to 7.2 percent in December, the highest level in 16 years, as nervous employers slashed 524,000 jobs. The labor market is expected to remain weak as mass layoffs continue. The Labor Department’s report, released Friday, underscored the terrible toll the deepening recession is …