Companies lay off thousands, then demand immigration reform for new labor

[flintlock]

http://washingtonexaminer.com/compan...rticle/2535595

Title says it all.

[DSpencer]

Re: Companies lay off thousands, then demand immigration reform for new labor

The officials cite a publication of their trade group, the HR Policy Association, which calls for immigration reform to "address the reality that there is a global war for talent."

A global war for low-skill workers that McDonald's needs to flip burgers? You can't make this stuff up.

[thriftyandboringinohio]

Re: Companies lay off thousands, then demand immigration reform for new labor

For the big corporations, it has the same effect as off-shoring the US jobs, without the hassle of moving the plants and setting up shop in the third world.
I think of it as outsourcing with free delivery.

[lektrode]

Re: Companies lay off thousands, then demand immigration reform for new labor

well.. i mights well pile-on here - its hilarious (and not in a fun way) - that the drumbeat of fraud known as 'the recovery' continues - even tho the latest 'revisions' of the unemployment rate have been UP once again - and even ole rupert's place is part of the 'cover-up' today - with this one behind the paywall (and NOT available via the goog-news 'backdoor', dammit...)
Reporting Anomaly Drives Plunge in Jobless Claims

Two States Fail to Process All Applications Because of Computer-System Changes

since it would be very interesting to see which 2 states - on top of all the other 'revisions in metrics' that we're getting from the 'federal' reserve (i'd link to the thread on this we have going here someplace - maybe in finster's section? - but i'm pressed fer time this AM)

but its getting REALLY pathetic now, the degree to which the lamestream propaganda machine is going to convince us that 'things are really looking up' - then, buried in the back someplace (like op/ed etc, anyplace but the frontpage) we get this:

Of course, the U.S. unemployment rate is at 7.3 percent, (which is fraud/lies all by itself)
with millions of American workers at all skill levels out of work, and millions more so discouraged that they have left the work force altogether. In addition, at the same time the corporate officers seek higher numbers of immigrants, both low-skill and high-skill, many of their companies are laying off thousands of workers.


For example, Hewlett-Packard, whose Executive Vice President for Human Resources Tracy Keogh signed the letter, laid off 29,000 employees in 2012. In August of this year, Cisco Systems, whose Senior Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer Kathleen Weslock signed the letter, announced plans to lay off 4,000 — in addition to 8,000 cut in the last two years. United Technologies, whose Senior Vice President of Human Resources and Organization Elizabeth B. Amato signed the letter, announced layoffs of 3,000 this year. American Express, whose Chief Human Resources Officer L. Kevin Cox signed the letter, cut 5,400 jobs this year. Procter & Gamble, whose Chief Human Resources Officer Mark F. Biegger signed the letter, announced plans to cut 5,700 jobs in 2012.


Those are just a few of the layoffs at companies whose officials signed the letter. A few more: T-Mobile announced 2,250 layoffs in 2012. Archer-Daniels-Midland laid off 1,200. Texas Instruments, nearly 2,000. Cigna, 1,300. Verizon sought to cut 1,700 jobs by buyouts and layoffs. Marriott announced "hundreds" of layoffs this year. International Paper has closed plants and laid off dozens. And General Mills, in what the Minneapolis Star-Tribune called a "rare mass layoff," laid off 850 people last year.


There are more still.

yep A WHOLE BUNCH MORE: http://www.dailyjobcuts.com/

and then they all want to just forget about the FACT that there are MILLIONS more of us in the ranks of the self-employed and construction trades in particular THAT ARENT EVEN BEING COUNTED.

meanwhile the ditherer-in-chief and his boosters somehow keep getting distracted from their so-called "pivot to jobs" - this after they've BLOWN ALL THEIR POLITICAL CAPITAL on more 'pressing matters' (epic fail, thankfully) and 'hugely important' social issues?

[Milton Kuo]

Re: Companies lay off thousands, then demand immigration reform for new labor

well.. i mights well pile-on here - its hilarious (and not in a fun way) - that the drumbeat of fraud known as 'the recovery' continues - even tho the latest 'revisions' of the unemployment rate have been UP once again - and even ole rupert's place is part of the 'cover-up' today - with this one behind the paywall (and NOT available via the goog-news 'backdoor', dammit...)
Reporting Anomaly Drives Plunge in Jobless Claims

The news story you mention is readable by me using the Google News trick:

1. Go to https://news.google.com/
2. Search for "Reporting Anomaly Drives Plunge in Jobless Claims"
3. The very first link is the desired WSJ article. Left-click on it to read it for free.

[lektrode]

Re: Companies lay off thousands, then demand immigration reform for new labor

tried that one, mr K - didnt work for me ? (and i have a button straight to it on my firefox ;)

but i'll give'r a go again and see.... (as i'd like to post this one)

adding: nope, goog-news isnt getting me past the wall - it usually does tho - GASP!!!

ya dont spose their onto that trick (and putting some kind of rupert-sponsored google-dee-goop code into our browsers to tip off the wsj server thats happnin, do ya ?? ;)

i even have the fox set to dump all history/cookies etc upon close.... so... this is interesting, eh mr K??

if you can get to it, post it, would ya...

[Milton Kuo]

Re: Companies lay off thousands, then demand immigration reform for new labor

tried that one, mr K - didnt work for me ? (and i have a button straight to it on my firefox ;)

but i'll give'r a go again and see.... (as i'd like to post this one)

adding: nope, goog-news isnt getting me past the wall - it usually does tho - GASP!!!

ya dont spose their onto that trick (and putting some kind of rupert-sponsored google-dee-goop code into our browsers to tip off the wsj server thats happnin, do ya ?? ;)

i even have the fox set to dump all history/cookies etc upon close.... so... this is interesting, eh mr K??

if you can get to it, post it, would ya...

Strange. It works for me. (Perhaps Google and the WSJ know how parsimonious I am and have given up all hope of monetizing me.) Anyhow, here's the article.

Reporting Anomaly Drives Plunge in Jobless Claims

Two States Fail to Process All Applications Because of Computer-System Changes

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WASHINGTON—The number of U.S. workers applying for jobless benefits tumbled last week to a seven-year low, but the drop was largely because of faulty reporting by states rather than a stronger labor market.
First-time benefit claims, a proxy for layoffs, fell by 31,000 to a seasonally adjusted 292,000 in the week ended Sept. 7, its lowest level since April 2006, the Labor Department said Thursday. Economists expected a reading of 330,000.
A Labor Department analyst said two states failed to report all of their claims as they transitioned to new computer systems. As a result, applications either weren't received or didn't get processed.
"A couple of states were doing computer-system conversions, and that resulted in fewer claims being reported," the analyst said. "That played a part—probably the majority of the reason—why the claims [went] in the direction they did this morning."
The analyst, citing agency policy, didn't name the states but said one was large and one was small. He said most of the drop wasn't necessarily indicative of an improving labor market and that revised estimates in coming weeks would "reasonably" correct the data. He also said a shorter week because of the Labor Day holiday may have played a role in the lower figure.
Related Articles

• MoneyBeat: Don't Get Too Jazzed About Drop in Jobless Claims

The jobless claims report initially shocked traders at a time of heightened sensitivity to labor-market gauges, which will play a key role in the Federal Reserve's decision next week about whether to adjust its bond-buying program.
"At first, your initial reaction was, of course, 'holy [expletive].' It was a very good number," said Dan Greenhaus, chief global strategist at BTIG LLC.
Some automated trading occurs in markets—without human involvement—the instant economic reports such as jobless claims are released. Even so, Thursday's report appeared to have a negligible impact on markets after traders saw within seconds—from news headlines after the release—that the figures were faulty, Mr. Greenhaus said.
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The Labor Department compiles the national figure for jobless claims based on reports filed by individual states. The agency sometimes will estimate an individual state's data when that state, for whatever reason, fails to submit a report in a given week, said Labor Department spokesman Jason Kuruvilla. But if the state provides a report—however faulty—the agency will rely on that report, rather than do an estimate, Mr. Kuruvilla said.
"In the case of states where they can't report or are unable to report, we do an estimation process, which has been done in the past routinely," Mr. Kuruvilla said. "In cases where states do report, we have to report that number."
That did little to assuage economists who carefully follow the weekly report, which offers the highest-frequency gauge of the labor market's strength or weakness.
Distortions are typical in the summer months as auto manufacturers have scheduled factory shutdowns, around Easter for schools' spring breaks, and in early January when seasonal employees from the busy holiday season file claims. Natural disasters can also affect the data. But in recent weeks distortions have faded and the figures have been showing signs of improvement, hovering around levels last seen before the recession started in late 2007.
"Just when you thought it was safe to pay attention again, the claims data are distorted again," said Stephen Stanley, chief economist at Pierpont Securities.
"This time," he added, "the culprit is bureaucratic ineptitude."
The underlying data in recent weeks have indicated a strengthening labor market. Falling jobless claims are a sign that businesses are comfortable enough in the economy to retain their current employees.
The four-week moving average of claims, which is used to smooth out volatility in the data, dropped to 321,250, its lowest level since October 2007, and has hovered around there for several weeks. And the number of continuing unemployment-benefit claims, which count total recipients, fell to 2,871,000 in the week ended Aug. 31, its lowest level since March 2008. Continuing-claims data are reported with a one-week lag.
But the declines in claims haven't moved in line with the slow pace of hiring.
Employers added 169,000 jobs in August, while the average monthly payroll gain has been about 180,000 this year, the Labor Department said last Friday. The unemployment rate fell to 7.3% for August, the lowest level since late 2008, but that was because more people dropped out of the workforce rather than found work.
Federal Reserve officials are looking for improvement in the labor market as they consider paring their large-scale bond-buying program, aimed at boosting the economy and encouraging spending and hiring. They want to see evidence that job creation will continue even if the central bank reduces the amount of stimulus it provides to the economy. The Fed's next policy meeting is Sept. 17-18.

[lektrode]

Re: Companies lay off thousands, then demand immigration reform for new labor

Strange. It works for me. (Perhaps Google and the WSJ know how parsimonious I am and have given up all hope of monetizing me.)

eye hear thAT, mr K - i gave up when they doubled the rates and then forced ya to run dozens and dozens of jscripts just to login (and we keep hearing about how the NSA is screwin around with our 'privacy' - who in h-e-double-L knows what all them script-kiddies are doing to our machines - never mind the data - with all that crap...)

but thanks mr K, for the assist here (i've got a few comments... ;)

Anyhow, here's the article.

Reporting Anomaly Drives Plunge in Jobless Claims

Two States Fail to Process All Applications Because of Computer-System Changes.....

(oh sure, blame the computers - couldnt possibly be operator error....)

The analyst, citing agency policy, didn't name the states but said one was large and one was small. He said most of the drop wasn't necessarily indicative of an improving labor market and that revised estimates in coming weeks would "reasonably" correct the data.....

"Just when you thought it was safe to pay attention again, the claims data are distorted again," ...
...
"This time," he added, "the culprit is bureaucratic ineptitude."

(shocking, just a S.H.O.C.K.I.N.G revelation, that is...)

....
The four-week moving average of claims, which is used to smooth out volatility in the data, dropped to 321,250, its lowest level since October 2007, and has hovered around there for several weeks. And the number of continuing unemployment-benefit claims, which count total recipients, fell to 2,871,000 in the week ended Aug. 31, its lowest level since March 2008. Continuing-claims data are reported with a one-week lag.

(oh hey! thats comforting... like right after the biggest mass-dump of the help in decades??)

But the declines in claims haven't moved in line with the slow pace of hiring.

Employers added 169,000 jobs in August, while the average monthly payroll gain has been about 180,000 this year, the Labor Department said last Friday. The unemployment rate fell to 7.3% for August, the lowest level since late 2008, but that was because more people dropped out of the workforce rather than found work.

(and still more 'good news' - yep "there's never been a better time to buy a house....")

.....
....
Federal Reserve officials are looking for improvement in the labor market as they consider paring their large-scale bond-buying program, aimed at boosting the economy and encouraging spending and hiring. They want to see evidence that job creation will continue even if the central bank reduces the amount of stimulus it provides to the economy. The Fed's next policy meeting is Sept. 17-18.

uh huh.... even tho the only 'stimulous' is to lower manhattan.... for The Rest of US ?
well... not so much.