Unemployment

Julianne Malveaux  |   OW Contributing Columnist
Apr 11 2013

Counting the Cost

Unemployment rates were “little changed” in March 2013; they were either holding steady or dropping by a tenth of a percentage point or so. The unemployment rate dropped from 7.7 to 7.6 percent representing a steady, if painstakingly slow, decrease. This declining unemployment rate was reported with some circumspection because even as the rate dropped, nearly half a million people left the labor market, presumably because they could not find work.

Mar 22 2013

Trade, transportation and utilities sector take biggest hit

LOS ANGELES, Calif.—The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate in Los Angeles County increased to 10.4 percent in January, up from a revised 10.3 percent in December, the state Employment Development Department announced today.

The 10.4 percent unemployment rate was below the 11.6 percent rate in January 2012, according to the EDD.

In Orange County, where seasonally adjusted numbers were not available, the unemployment rate was 7.1 percent in January.

Julianne Malveaux  |   OW Contributing Columnist
Jul 12 2012

Counting the Cost

The unemployment rate has hovered above 8 percent for several months, most recently holding ground at 8.2 percent; the same as last month.

Meanwhile the African American unemployment rate went up, technically to 14.4 percent, and we all know that means the real rate is even higher—in excess of 25 percent.

Jul 10 2012

UCLA releases new study

About 3.8 million Californians could not afford to consistently feed themselves or their families during the Great Recession, according to a UCLA study released Monday.

Low-income families, households with children and Latinos suffered the greatest so-called food insecurity—multiple occasions in which people had to cut their food intake and experienced hunger, according to the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research.

Nii-Quartelai Quartey  |   OW Guest Columnist
Nov 24 2011

Initiative to move city money gains new life

Angelenos have had enough.

After receiving billions in taxpayer bailouts—money that was intended to free up capital and get banks lending again—the large corporate banks sat on their hands and their wallets.

Across Black America

Here’s a look at African American people and issues making headlines throughout the country.
 

Alabama
Freeman A. Hrabowski, president of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, will address the annual African American Business Council luncheon on June 28. Hrabowski, who is chairman of President Barack Obama’s Advisory Commission on Education Excellence for African Americans, has a national reputation for his work studying the performance of minority students in math and science. Hrabowski, named one of the 10 best college presidents in the country by Time magazine, was a child leader in the Civil Rights Movement in Birmingham in the 1960s.
 

Arkansas
The Liberty Counsel filed a motion and a brief in United States District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas seeking to intervene on behalf of a Concepts of Life crisis pregnancy center to defend against a suit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union and the Center for Reproductive Rights. The groups seek to impose a permanent injunction before the Human Heartbeat Protection Act goes into effect July 18. Liberty Counsel also filed a brief opposing the ACLU’s request for an injunction. The “Heartbeat” bill states that when a woman seeks an abortion at or after the 12th week, doctors must test for a fetal heartbeat before an abortion is performed and inform the pregnant mother that the child in her womb has a heartbeat. If a heartbeat is detected, a woman cannot have an abortion, except in cases of rape, incest, and if a mother’s life is in danger. “As we promised when the legislation was introduced, Liberty Counsel will defend this law without reservation for the people of Arkansas, born and pre-born,” said Matt Staver, founder and chairman of Liberty Counsel. “No right is more foundational than the right to life. Without life, all other rights are irrelevant,” concluded Staver.