Unemployment
Workforce Development names 5 board members
Workforce Development names 5 new board members
Date: 05/29/2012 | Bizblog
Spaniards rage against austerity programs
MADRID -- Spaniards angered by increasingly grim economic prospects and unemployment hitting one out of every four citizens protested in droves Saturday in the nation's largest cities, marking the one-year anniversary of a spontaneous movement that inspired similar anti-authority demonstrations...
Date: 05/12/2012 | Nation & World
How states fared on jobless aid applications
Weekly unemployment benefit applications were little changed last week and remained stuck near a three-month high. That suggests hiring may have slowed after strong job gains this winter.
Date: 04/26/2012 | Bizblog
Snohomish County unemployment rate dips
Payrolls increased in March by about 2,670 people in Snohomish County, driving down the county's unemployment rate to 8.4 percent, according to a state Employment Security Department report released Tuesday.
Date: 04/24/2012 | Business
Federal aid to help 570 K-C mill employees find work
EVERETT -- Hundreds of mill workers who lost their jobs at Kimberly-Clark are about to get more help finding new work.
Date: 04/12/2012 | Business
Applications for jobless aid tick up
WASHINGTON -- More people sought unemployment benefits last week, suggesting that the job market's recovery remains slow.
Date: 04/12/2012 | Business
U.S. jobless claims hit 4-year low of 357K
WASHINGTON -- The number of people seeking U.S. unemployment benefits fell to a four-year low last week, suggesting employers kept hiring in March at a healthy pace.
Date: 04/05/2012 | Business
Public job cuts damage education, safety
WASHINGTON -- Yes, the economy's growing, the unemployment rate is inching down and America is feeling a little bit better about itself. But don't think for a minute that all the lost jobs aren't still taking a severe toll all across this nation -- especially all the chopped government...
Date: 04/05/2012 | Nation & World
New NASA budget would trim funding for planet science
At the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, tucked into the hills above Los Angeles, these are heady days: The robot dubbed Curiosity is hurtling toward Mars and is expected to put scientists on their strongest footing yet to determine whether the Red Planet is or ever has been hospitable to life. More than...
Date: 04/05/2012 | Nation & World
Jobless rates fall in 29 states across the U.S.
Unemployment rates fell last month in most U.S. states, including in some hit hardest during the recession. The Labor Department said Friday that unemployment rates declined in 29 states and rose in 8. Rates were unchanged in 13 states and Washington, D.C. Employers added jobs in 42 states, the...
Date: 03/31/2012 | Business
Jobless claims fall to lowest level in 4 years
WASHINGTON -- The number of people seeking U.S. unemployment benefits dropped last week to the lowest level in four years, adding to evidence that the job market is strengthening.
Date: 03/29/2012 | Business
Jobless aid applications hit 4-year low
WASHINGTON -- The number of people seeking U.S. unemployment aid fell to a four-year low last week, bolstering the view that the job market is strengthening.
Date: 03/22/2012 | Business
State unemployment rate drops for fourth straight month
OLYMPIA -- Washington's unemployment rate dropped to 8.3 percent in January, continuing a string of positive labor reports for the state.
Date: 02/29/2012 | Business
Deal trims maximum jobless benefits to 73 weeks
WASHINGTON — Millions of Americans will continue to receive long-term unemployment benefits under legislation approved Friday in Congress, but the scope of the program is being scaled back to cover fewer people by the end of the year.
Date: 02/17/2012 | Nation & World
House Republicans seek a federal pay freeze
WASHINGTON -- The GOP-led House is ushering forward bills to freeze federal employee pay and ban welfare recipients from accessing their benefits through ATMs at casinos or strip clubs -- moves intended to give Republicans leverage for including those proposals in negotiations to extend President...
Date: 02/02/2012 | Nation & World
County jobless rate, 8.2 percent, lowest since December 2008
Snohomish County's jobless rate saw another promising decline in December to 8.2 percent, the lowest since December 2008.
Date: 01/24/2012 | Business
Networking face to face
Edmonds mixers help those unemployed, underemployed
Date: 01/23/2012 | Business
Jobless but not hopeless
Sen. Murray comes to Marysville to talk about aid for jobless
Date: 01/12/2012 | Local News
Sen. Patty Murray to visit unemployed Marysville man's home
MARYSVILLE -- Randy Heslop didn't expect a response when he wrote an email to Sen. Patty Murray about his struggles with finding a job.He wrote it in answer to an email from the senator's office asking for personal stories about how the loss of unemployment benefits would affect people.
Date: 01/09/2012 | Local News
Unemployment rate hinges on more than job gains
WASHINGTON -- For most people, the 8.5 percent unemployment rate is the most visible sign of the economy's health. The rate's every movement is closely watched, especially in an election year.
Date: 01/07/2012 | Business
Economy gets 'horsepower' from jobs report
WASHINGTON -- Four painful years after the Great Recession struck and wiped out 8.7 million jobs, the United States may finally be in an elusive pattern known as the virtuous cycle -- an escalating loop of robust job growth, healthier spending and higher demand.
Date: 01/07/2012 | Business
Four District 1 firefighters could lose their jobs
EVERETT -- Four firefighters from Snohomish County Fire District 1 have been given notices that they could be laid off as early as Feb. 15.
Date: 01/07/2012 | Local News
Last-minute buyers top off strong shopping season
It's that time for caroling, eggnog, holiday cheer — and for some, a frantic dash to the mall.Last-minute shoppers hit stores on Christmas Eve in a surge that is expected to top off an unexpectedly strong holiday shopping season.
Date: 12/24/2011 | Business
Tax cut survives: Congress votes holiday approval
WASHINGTON — Barely beating Santa's sleigh, Congress delivered a last-minute holiday tax-cut extension to 160 million American wage-earners on Friday, just when it looked like they and millions of unemployed workers were going to be left with coal in their stockings.
Date: 12/23/2011 | Nation & World
Jobless claims fall: 'There is a recovery going on,' economist says
WASHINGTON -- In in the latest sign that the economy is surging at year's end, unemployment claims have dropped to the lowest level since April 2008, long before anyone realized that the nation was in a recession.
Date: 12/23/2011 | Business
Payroll tax increase generates GOP infighting
WASHINGTON _ The Senate is gone, the House is packing up, and for now that means working Americans will see their taxes rise in January.
Date: 12/21/2011 | Nation & World
President Obama blames GOP for upcoming tax increase
WASHINGTON — Continuing a tax cut of up to $40 a week for workers and unemployment benefits for millions of jobless hit a wall Tuesday as the House rejected a two-month extension of both, and President Barack Obama blamed Republicans for the stalemate.
Date: 12/20/2011 | Nation & World
House passes $1 trillion budget bill, avoids shutdown
WASHINGTON — The House has passed a $1 trillion-plus catchall budget bill paying for day-to-day budgets of 10 Cabinet departments and averting a government shutdown.
Date: 12/15/2011 | Nation & World
1 in 2 Americans are poor or low-income, census shows
WASHINGTON -- Squeezed by rising living costs, a record number of Americans -- nearly 1 in 2 -- have fallen into poverty or are scraping by on earnings that classify them as low income.
Date: 12/15/2011 | Nation & World
U.S. government again faces possible shutdown
WASHINGTON -- A partisan standoff in Congress over President Barack Obama's payroll tax cut for 160 million working Americans threatens to shut down the federal government as soon as this weekend, leaving lawmakers to finish the year careening toward yet another budget crisis.
Date: 12/15/2011 | Nation & World
Snokist announces it will lay off 610 employees
YAKIMA -- Snokist Growers has notified the state it will lay off 610 full and part-time employees in February.
Date: 12/10/2011 | Northwest
Bill would require drug screening for jobless benefits
WASHINGTON — Seeking unemployment benefits? Be prepared to take a drug test if a congressman has his way.
Date: 12/09/2011 | Nation & World
Some of 700 to be let go at Kimberly-Clark could land at Boeing
The Workforce Development Council of Snohomish County has been working with Kimberly-Clark Corp. employees about their options after the company's Everett paper plant closes, and some could find a home at Boeing, counselors say.
Date: 12/08/2011 | Business
Hiring outlook brightens as jobless claims fall
WASHINGTON — A steady decline in the number of people applying for weekly unemployment benefits is the latest signal that the economy has strengthened and businesses may be poised to step up hiring.
Date: 12/08/2011 | Business
Unemployed plan a week of protests in D.C.
WASHINGTON -- Roughly 3,000 unemployed workers from around the country are expected in the nation's capital next week for four days of protests with labor, religious and social justice groups that say Congress cares more about America's wealthiest 1 percent than it does the masses of struggling...
Date: 12/04/2011 | Nation & World
U.S. jobless rate falls to 8.6 percent
WASHINGTON -- The unemployment rate, which has refused to budge from the 9 percent neighborhood for two and a half frustrating years, fell sharply in November, driven in part by small businesses that finally see reason to hope and hire.
Date: 12/03/2011 | Business
Parts of Obama jobs plan get Senate approval
WASHINGTON -- The Senate overwhelmingly approved provisions from President Barack Obama's jobs plan that found rare bipartisan appeal, including a proposal to give companies tax credits for hiring unemployed veterans.
Date: 11/11/2011 | Nation & World
Fed Chairman Bernanke reaches out to veterans
WASHINGTON -- Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke on Thursday tried to reassure U.S. soldiers, a group hit hard by high unemployment, that the Fed is working to strengthen the economy.
Date: 11/11/2011 | Business
Most of the unemployed no longer receiving benefits
The jobs crisis has left so many people out of work for so long that most of America's unemployed are no longer receiving unemployment benefits.
Date: 11/05/2011 | Nation & World
Job market improves modestly as unemployment falls
WASHINGTON — The American job market improved modestly in October, and economists looking deeper into the numbers found reasons for optimism — or at least what counts for optimism in this agonizingly slow economic recovery.
Date: 11/04/2011 | Business
GOP senators block President Obama's jobs bill
WASHINGTON -- Republicans continued their unified front against President Barack Obama's jobs package, blocking $60 billion in funding for road and infrastructure projects despite indications Republicans are sensitive about losing ground on a top issue for voters.
Date: 11/04/2011 | Nation & World
Mayor lashes out at online news site for 'brokest city' rating
COLUMBUS, Ga. — Columbus Mayor Teresa Tomlinson is demanding that an online news organization delete from its website a story declaring that her Georgia community is America's "brokest city."
Date: 11/03/2011 | Nation & World
Poorest poor in U.S. hits new record: 1 in 15 people
WASHINGTON — The ranks of America's poorest poor have climbed to a record high — 1 in 15 people — spread widely across metropolitan areas as the housing bust pushed many inner-city poor into suburbs and other outlying places and shriveled jobs and income.
Date: 11/03/2011 | Nation & World
Public-sector work fueled rapid growth in Texas jobs
FORT WORTH, Texas -- As Gov. Rick Perry tells it, Texas lawmakers fueled a jobs boom in recent years by getting out of the way of the private sector.
Date: 10/23/2011 | Nation & World
High income workers' share of total wages grows
WASHINGTON — Fifty percent of U.S. workers earned less than $26,364 last year, reflecting a growing income gap between the nation's rich and poor, the government reported Thursday.
Date: 10/20/2011 | Nation & World
Occupy Wall Street movement grows to dozens of cities
NEW YORK — Protesters in at least four U.S. cities who were part of a growing anti-Wall Street sentiment were arrested after refusing to obey police orders to leave public areas, including 175 people in Chicago, where the arrests brought about a new phase of civil disobedience, organizers...
Date: 10/16/2011 | Nation & World
President Obama pushes his dead jobs bill
WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama says he's going to travel the country telling lawmakers to do their jobs and vote in favor of his economic proposals, and he says congressional Republicans should stop picking partisan fights and act.
Date: 10/16/2011 | Nation & World
Occupy Wall Street protesters fill Times Square
NEW YORK — Thousands of demonstrators protesting corporate greed filled Times Square on Saturday night, mixing with gawkers, Broadway showgoers, tourists and police to create a chaotic scene in the midst of Manhattan.
Date: 10/15/2011 | Nation & World
Congress passes 3 free trade agreements
WASHINGTON — Congress approved free trade agreements Wednesday with South Korea, Colombia and Panama, ending a four-year drought in the forming of new trade partnerships and giving the White House and Capitol Hill the opportunity to show they can work together to stimulate the economy and put...
Date: 10/12/2011 | Nation & World
Video: B.C. magazine launched Occupy Wall Street movement
NEW YORK — Early this year, the editors of a Canadian anti-establishment magazine watched Egyptians demanding democracy in Cairo, and young Spaniards camping out in city centers to protest high unemployment, and wondered, "Why isn't this happening in America?"
Date: 10/12/2011 | Nation & World
Unemployed seek protection against job bias
WASHINGTON — After two years on the unemployment rolls, Selena Forte thought she'd found a temporary job at FedEx that matched her qualifications.
Date: 10/09/2011 | Nation & World
Economy adds 103,000 jobs but unemployment remains at 9.1%
WASHINGTON -- Hiring picked up a bit in September as employers added 103,000 jobs over the month, the government said Friday in a report that's likely to ease fears that the economy is hurtling toward another recession.
Date: 10/07/2011 | Business
Unions, students join Wall Street protesters
NEW YORK — Unions lent their muscle to the long-running protest against Wall Street and economic inequality Wednesday, with their members joining thousands of protesters in a lower Manhattan march as smaller demonstrations flourished across the country.
Date: 10/06/2011 | Nation & World
Hanford contractor sends 244 layoff notices
RICHLAND -- A contractor responsible for cleaning up radioactive waste in underground tanks at Hanford handed out 244 layoff notices Monday.
Date: 10/04/2011 | Northwest
Employers picking up the tab for loans to states
WASHINGTON -- States that borrowed billions from the federal government to keep unemployment benefits flowing through the recession now have to start paying those loans back, and they're hitting businesses with new assessments and higher taxes to make that happen.
Date: 10/03/2011 | Nation & World
Americans' incomes declined in August
WASHINGTON -- Americans earned less last month, the first decline in nearly two years. With less income, consumers could cut back on spending and weaken an already-fragile economy.
Date: 10/01/2011 | Business
Economy gaining but not enough to cut unemployment
WASHINGTON -- The economy is showing signs of modest improvement -- not enough to reduce high unemployment but enough to ease fears that another recession might be near.
Date: 09/30/2011 | Business
Get job-hunting help at workshops
Do you need to re-enter the workforce? You can find free tools and support in a variety of three-hour workshops offered by the YWCA's Pathways to Work programs in Everett, Lynnwood and Stanwood.
Date: 09/27/2011 | Life
Recession slams young adults, census finds
WASHINGTON — Young adults are the recession's lost generation.
Date: 09/23/2011 | Nation & World
GOP presidential debate focuses on economy
ORLANDO, Fla. -- Texas Gov. Rick Perry, in his third debate in six weeks, remained vague Thursday about how, precisely, he would translate his state's job-creation recipe into a national economic policy.
Date: 09/22/2011 | Nation & World
Fed does the Twist: $400 billion plan announced to help economy
WASHINGTON -- The Federal Reserve will use more than $400 billion to try to drive down long-term interest rates, make home and business loans cheaper and invigorate the economy.Analysts said the moves would provide only a slight economic benefit.
Date: 09/22/2011 | Business
President Obama pushes his jobs bill
RALEIGH, N.C. -- President Barack Obama urged enthusiastic college students Wednesday to join him in his fight to get Congress to act on his new jobs bill. "Every single one of you can help make this bill a reality," the president called out at a hot and noisy rally at North Carolina State...
Date: 09/15/2011 | Nation & World
Key ingredient to a successful interview: Confidence
Question: My biggest job search hang-up is the job interview. I have had interviews but I don't think I come across confidently. I was very good at my last job but I don't know how to convey this fact to interviewers. Is it OK to bring performance evaluations and positive emails from my last boss...
Date: 09/14/2011 | Business
Obama asks voters to pressure Congress on jobs
RICHMOND, Va. -- His jobs speech out of the way, President Obama opened a road show Friday to sell his ideas to the public, urging voters to send a "carrier pigeon" to Congress if need be to build grass-roots momentum behind his $447 billion jobs package.
Date: 09/10/2011 | Nation & World
Obama's job plan offers short-term fix, economists say
WASHINGTON — Could it work? That's the question being asked about President Barack Obama's big new jobs plan.Independent experts answered Friday with a qualified yes.
Date: 09/09/2011 | Nation & World
New coffee shop planned for Everett marina
Everett's 14th Street marina area is getting a new coffee shop. Cafe@Marina has signed a five-year lease with the Port of Everett to open a 759-square-foot shop off the lobby of the Waterfront Center that opened earlier this year at 1205 Craftsman Way. The shop hopes to open in December or January,...
Date: 09/08/2011 | Business
Getting back to even on jobs divides U.S. leaders
WASHINGTON — America's sickly economy can be healed with jobs, jobs and more jobs. On that, everyone agrees. Figuring out how to produce them is what is stumping everyone.
Date: 09/07/2011 | Nation & World
Romney jobs plan: Cut taxes, slap China, drill oil
NORTH LAS VEGAS, Nev. — Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney, in a wide-ranging bid to create jobs, proposed Tuesday to reduce regulations and taxes on companies, sanction China over its currency practices and weaken the clout of labor unions.
Date: 09/06/2011 | Nation & World
Timing settled, Obama sets sights on jobs speech
WASHINGTON— President Barack Obama will a deliver rare address to a joint session of Congress next week to introduce a long-awaited plan for jobs and economic growth, but not before being forced to yield in a test of wills with House Speaker John Boehner over not what he would say, but when...
Date: 09/01/2011 | Nation & World
Gasoline prices in decline as other costs continue to grow
WASHINGTON -- More expensive gas, food, clothes and other necessities are squeezing consumers who are already struggling with stagnant pay and worried about a weak economy.
Date: 08/19/2011 | Business
Obama's plan: New jobs package, challenging GOP
WASHINGTON — Under fire in a nation desperate for jobs, President Barack Obama will soon announce a broad package of tax cuts, construction work and help for the millions of Americans who have been unemployed for months, a White House official said Wednesday. Republicans immediately cast...
Date: 08/18/2011 | Nation & World
Generation vexed: Young Americans rein in their dreams
LOS ANGELES -- Alicia Thomas, 20, had it all planned out: career at a nonprofit, married by 24, mortgage by 26.Then financial markets went on a wild roller-coaster ride, portending that high unemployment and the stalled economy won't be rebounding any time soon.
Date: 08/18/2011 | Business
Report shows recession's impact on young
The sputtering economy has set up more chutes than ladders for many of America's children, with more than 7.7 million -- almost 11 percent -- having at least one unemployed parent last year. At least 5.3 million -- or 4 percent -- have been touched by foreclosure since 2007.
Date: 08/16/2011 | Nation & World
Job seekers must evolve with trends
The employment landscape is changing. In a cash-strapped economy, recruiters and employers must streamline the hiring process to cut down on expenses and time. Plus, new technologies constantly emerge on the job scene, which means that job hunters need to re-evaluate traditional search methods and...
Date: 08/10/2011 | Business
Jobs report is good enough to calm Wall Street
WASHINGTON — U.S. job market beat expectations and the stock market managed a modest gain — not great, but good enough after a turbulent week.
Date: 08/06/2011 | Business
Services firms expand at slowest pace in 17 months
WASHINGTON -- Restaurants, hotels, retailers and financial companies saw more business in July, but the broader U.S. service industry experienced its weakest growth in 17 months.
Date: 08/04/2011 | Business
GOP delays vote on leader's debt ceiling plan
WASHINGTON — An intensive endgame at hand, Republican leaders abruptly postponed a vote Thursday night on legislation to avert a threatened government default and slice federal spending by nearly $1 trillion.
Date: 07/29/2011 | Nation & World
Applications for unemployment aid drop below 400,000
WASHINGTON -- The number of people seeking unemployment benefits dropped last week to the lowest level since early April, a sign the job market may be healing after a recent slump.
Date: 07/28/2011 | Business
Snohomish County jobless rate climbs to 10.1 percent
After months of declines, Snohomish County's jobless rate shot back up to 10.1 percent in June, as youth and summer job seekers entered the market.
Date: 07/26/2011 | Business
Job outlook rises as reports suggest more hiring
WASHINGTON -- June may turn out to have been a good month to find a job after all.
Date: 07/08/2011 | Business
Federal jobless tax for employers expiring quietly
WASHINGTON — Nearly every private employer in the U.S. will get a tax cut today.
Date: 07/01/2011 | Business
Employers say they can't fill some jobs
A good month or two doesn't make a trend, but I'm mildly heartened by the local unemployment numbers released last week.After a long time idling at 10 percent, the Snohomish County jobless rate dropped to 9.5 percent in April and to 9.2 percent in May.
Date: 06/27/2011 | Business
U.S. growth to be slow, Fed acknowledges
WASHINGTON -- The Federal Reserve acknowledged Wednesday the economy is growing more slowly than expected. But it said it will complete its $600 billion Treasury bond buying program by June 30 nd announced no further efforts to boost the economy.
Date: 06/23/2011 | Business
Internships benefit employers, too
Summer is not the easiest time to land a job, particularly in this economy.
Date: 06/20/2011 | Business
Unemployment in the U.S. on the rise again
WASHINGTON -- Employers in May added the fewest jobs in eight months, and the unemployment rate inched up to 9.1 percent. The weakening job market raised concerns about an economy hampered by gas prices and the Japanese nuclear disaster. The key question is whether the meager 54,000 jobs added last...
Date: 06/04/2011 | Business
Obama celebrates Chrysler recovery, but not latest job figures
TOLEDO, Ohio -- President Barack Obama on Friday celebrated Chrysler's ongoing recovery and the government's sale of its 98,461 shares in the automaker before grateful workers here, telling them "I couldn't be prouder of what you've done."
Date: 06/04/2011 | Nation & World
Jobs are on the rise, but wages are falling
LOS ANGELES -- Tangela Ridgeway agrees that the economy is improving. It's just the pay that's getting worse.
Date: 06/02/2011 | Business
How to handle employment gaps, restructuring
Question: I was president of a small manufacturing company when the board decided to replace the entire management team. That was two years ago. I am open to accepting a job title other than head of a company, but I can't seem to move beyond this issue in my job search. I could explain being out of...
Date: 06/01/2011 | Business
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