"Gene Kearns" wrote in message
...
On Sat, 03 Jan 2004 18:37:16 GMT, "NOYB" wrote:

Unemployment Claims Lowest Since Bush Became President
By Jimmy Moore
Talon News
January 1, 2004

Unemployment claims dropped last week to the lowest level since George W.
Bush was inaugurated president, according to the latest jobless benefits
report released by the Labor Department on Wednesday.

Please have your polyana-ish predictors help our local economy.... we
need the help..... in 1Q 2004 predictions 13% will hire new workers
(there's your good figures to quote) and 23% will lay off.....

2:42 PM EST Wednesday
Triad's unemployment rate rises in November
The unemployment rate for the eight-county Triad Metropolitan
Statistical Area was 6 percent in November, up from 5.8 percent in
October, according to statistics released Wednesday by the state's
Employment Security Commission.

In all, rates rose in 86 of the 100 North Carolina counties, though
ESC Chairman Harry Payne Jr. said he wasn't worried by the monthly
results.

"Minor monthly fluctuations in the unemployment rates are not
unusual," he said. "In fact, economic trends still point the way of
modest employment growth across our state."

The state's unemployment rate was 6.2 percent in November, up from 6.1
percent in October. The Charlotte metro area had a 6.9 percent
unemployment rate, up from 6.6 percent in October, while the
Raleigh/Durham area posted a November unemployment rate of 4.3
percent, up from 4.1 percent in October.

Guilford County remained one of the counties receiving the most
unemployment insurance benefits, ranking third behind Mecklenburg and
Wake counties. Guilford residents received $4.5 million in
unemployment benefits in November, the ESC said. This was despite the
fact that the unemployment rate in Guilford County actually decreased
in the last month.

Here's a county-by-county breakdown of November unemployment rates in
the 12-county greater Triad compared to October rates:

Alamance: 6.7 percent, up from 6.4 percent;
Caswell: 8.4 percent, down from 8.5 percent;
Davidson: 8.2 percent, up from 7.5 percent;
Davie: 5.8 percent, up from 5 percent;
Forsyth: 5.3 percent, up from 4.9 percent;
Guilford: 5.8 percent, down from 6 percent;
Montgomery: 8.8 percent, up from 8.3 percent;
Randolph: 5.5 percent, up from 5.2 percent;
Rockingham: 10.2 percent, up from 9.9 percent;
Stokes: 6.1 percent, up from 5.5 percent;
Surry: 7.7 percent, up from 7.2 percent;
Yadkin: 5.9 percent, up from 5.7 percent.

Financial services tanks...

http://triad.bizjournals.com/triad/s...22/story1.html

and this is our best effort to try and stem the tide......

http://triad.bizjournals.com/triad/s...08/daily4.html

for workers displaced from NAFTA disasters that were making $25/hr now
hoping to make from $7-$10/hr.... just to keep their heads above
water. Note that not only do I have hourly employees in my classes, I
have at least one ex-mill owner. In his words.... "I could have
stayed in business if I wanted to move to China, but who the f*ck
wants to live in China?" It might also help to point out that he and
his partner in the (failed) knitting mill were naturalized
citizens..... when America *was* a place people wanted to move to make
a good living. Now, it is just better than China. Gack.
(Oh, yeah, by the way...... the mill was successful from the late 60's
until NAFTA.)
Can you imagine the far reaching effects this has on a state's tax
base?

Your polyana-ish outlook on the economy distresses me...... but not as
much as the human suffering does that was created by poor
political/economic decisions. Quit posting half-truths... it does
nothing for your credibility.

You know what, Gene? I believe you've made up your mind that the economy
stinks, and no statistic will convince you otherwise.

The loss of manufacturing jobs has very little to do with the economy, and
more to do with free trade in a world economy. In fact, during Bush's
watch, and despite a recession, almost every jobs sector has had a net gain
in jobs except for manufacturing.. That being said, manufacturing just
posted its biggest month of growth in two decades.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmp..._ge/economy_11

Manufacturing Sees Best Month in Decades
Sat Jan 3, 1:35 PM ET

By ADAM GELLER, AP Business Writer

NEW YORK - The nation's manufacturing sector, thrashed by the recession and
achingly slow to recover, finished 2003 with its most robust month of growth
in two decades.



The Institute for Supply Management reported Friday that its manufacturing
index jumped to 66.2 in December from 62.8 the previous month, strong
evidence that the economic turnaround continues to pick up steam.


The new figure was the highest since December 1983 for a sector that has
shed millions of jobs over the past three years. The reading, which marks
the sixth consecutive month of expansion in manufacturing, was significantly
higher than the 61 forecast by analysts.


An index reading above 50 indicates expansion; one below 50 indicates that
manufacturing activity is contracting. From March through June, the
manufacturing index was below 50.


Economists said the index shows that while the beleaguered factory sector
still has much ground to make up, it is now firmly in recovery mode, helped
along by low interest rates and a falling dollar that makes U.S.-produced
goods cheaper overseas.


"Manufacturing is really the last piece of the puzzle that is falling in
place to produce broad-based, sustained economic growth," said Sung Won
Sohn, chief economist with Wells Fargo & Co. in Minneapolis.


The momentum is particularly evident in new orders to factories, said
Norbert J. Ore, chairman of the institute's manufacturing business survey
committee. A component index tracking new orders reached its highest level
since 1950, rising to 77.6 in December from 73.7 in November, he said.


"The strength in December's data provides significant encouragement for
prospects in the first quarter of 2004," Ore said.


An index measuring factory production also rose, to 73 from 68.3 in
November. ISM's measure of factory employment rose to 55.5 from 51.


Of the 20 industries making up the sector, 17 reported growth, led by
instruments and photographic equipment, leather and furniture. Two
industries, paper and chemicals, did not see a pickup in their business. ISM
did not gather enough responses from the last remaining industry, petroleum,
to gauge growth.


"The month-over-month growth from November to December indicates a rapid
recovery taking place in the sector, though there are still some businesses
lagging and wondering when they will see the improvement that others are
experiencing," Ore said.


But economist Sohn noted that the growth comes in a sector that remains far
from what it was a few years ago, with millions of jobs lost. Job growth at
factories will continue to be limited in the coming year, with manufacturing
continuing to shift overseas, he said.


Stocks rose strongly following the release of the report, but major indexes
ended the mixed after a bout of late-day selling. The Dow Jones industrial
average ended 44 points lower at 10,410. Broader stock indicators were
mixed. The Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 3 points to 1,108, while the
Nasdaq composite index was up 3 points at 2,007