St. Louis unemployment hit 7.3 percent in November
The region’s jobless rate ratcheted up once again in November, hitting 7.3 percent, according to data out this morning from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Nearly 104,000 St. Louis-area residents were looking for work and couldn’t find it in the month, according to the BLS survey, and some 20,000 people dropped out of the labor force entirely.
The region most recently recorded a 7.3 percent unemployment rate in August and was at 6.9 percent in October, but the figures are not adjusted for seasonal variations, so economists don’t recommend comparison among different months. The rate soared from last November, however, when unemployment was 5.2 percent.
Nationally, unemployment was at 6.5 percent, with December numbers due out Friday.
A separate survey of employers showed that the region has shed 16,900 jobs in the last year. Employment is down in nearly every sector of the local economy; only education and health care are showing growth.
For more details on today’s unemployment numbers, please see Wednesday’s St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
This is truly a travesty. And what’s worse, if you’re dealing with this, you already know how frustrating it is to get your unemployment benefits rolling. This was coming at us like a freight train and the State, seemingly, did nothing to prepare for this. Getting through by telephone is almost impossible. And once you’re through, there’s a wait period of approximately 45 minutes. Now that you’re speaking with a representative, they can only tell you about the stats and how many other people are trying to get benefits. As far as the unemployment issue goes, there are a lot of people out there who are on pins and needles about losing their jobs. I think the country needs to focus on creating and keeping jobs here in America and let those other tend to their woes.
If you are recently unemployed and don’t own a computer or use one a lot it can be a very frustrating situation. Everything is done by computer now. You’ll need to go in to your local office or public library to check on job postings. Unless you are a college graduate with specific skill sets your job options will be lousy. Plan on earning $7-$9 an hour. Personally, I looked for five months to come up with a “temp” job at $11 an hour. That was the best job I could find in the area searching on the computer daily.
If you’re truly broke and have a family, you’re going to have to suck it up and go to the local food pantry and apply for food stamps quickly at the local social security office. Preserve as much savings as is possible!
Decent paying factory jobs in the St. Louis, basically no longer exist. This is the “new” economy. A college education is expensive, takes years and if you are over fifty may be useless by the time you get it.
Temporarily, if you have a family member that needs a kitchen or bedroom painted or a garage you could clean out for cash, it’s better than a blank.
Beware of the multiple con games that are out there to tempt desperate people. Any job ads that run continuously or want money for more information are probably phony. There are some unscrupulous car dealers running a fairly slick scam that’s barely legal. They promise a car salesman job and a few days into your “training” they want $350 to continue. Some of the people are hired and supposedly you can use your “training” to apply elsewhere but we all know how well cars are selling these days- not! So what ever you do be careful and talk it over with your spouse before you commit or sign anything!
By spring, the job situation should improve dramatically!
The waiting is hard. You have to wait a week or two to see if you can even collect unemployment. Then you have a waiting week. When you live paycheck to paycheck this puts you behind on bills. Do away with the waiting week. If you do get lucky enough to find a job in a few weeks you lose the waiting week.
I’m curious about one thing. Scuttlebutt says that the upcoming federal tax relief package means “that people will not get checks, but will see a reduction in their federal payroll withholding taxes.” That means, if you aren’t working, and in most need, your relief will be $0. Can we take up a collection to send to Washington to buy people a clue?
Teresa,
Unemployment benefits are subject to federal and state payroll tax withholdings, too. You’re right, though, that people who’ve lost jobs but who have run out of unemployment benefits (whom the Government ceases to “count” as “unemployed”) won’t benefit from the elimination the payroll tax, but they also wouldn’t benefit from a cut in the income tax rate much either, since 3/4 of a year of unemployment benefits doesn’t ammount to much by way of taxable income.
Just a point.
It is a myth that government does not count you as “unemployed” if you aren’t collecting benefits. The unemployment numbers are extrapolated from polling.
I was making $40/hr as a computer contractor at A-B before being released. My unemployment check will be $320/wk or $8/hr… $320/wk after taxes is less than my house payment. It really sucks to have to take money out of my retirement saving to pay for food/utilities. Things will be going (new clothes, cable TV, entertainment, etc). I’ve been spending 6 to 7 hours a day on my job search. I’ve already dropped my salary expectations by 12.5%. Today alone I applied for 8 positions via the internet. No one will accept calls, just send them your resume or enter your data into their recruiting system. Most jobs are for temp firms which may or not exist. If companies in St. Louis aren’t laying off, they have hiring freezes. I understand that the 26 weeks to collect unemployment is extended by 20 more weeks. I was planning on retiring at age 65 (7 years from now). By having to live off my retirement savings now, I’ll be force to work longer. This will tighten the job market years to come. With more young people starting work and us old timers hanging around longer, life in America will truely suffer.
Does everyone live hand to mouth these days? You should have at least six months of savings to fall back on without tapping retirement savings. If you don’t, you’re living beyond your means. If you’re depending on the government for anything, you’re an idiot.
Dave I am happy for you that you have six months of imcome in savings. I do not think that is realistic for most. After we contrubute to retirement, pay for the portion of health insurance that the company does not cover, pay for asthma medication and other prescription, pay our mortgage, car payment (economy car not luxury), put money in an education fund for our son and pay all the other expenses that come with life there is not enough money to have six months of wages in a saving account. We do not live a lavish life and there is simply not enough money to have that much money in the bank.
I can definately say that the numbers rose because of ATT laying off hundreds, maybe thousands of temporary workers.