Unemployment

3 US Cities Win Bloomberg Global Mayors Challenge

Cities in New Jersey, Arizona and Minnesota were selected for their unique programs to help residents get jobs and to accelerate opioid treatment.

  • By Andre Claudio

The Great Resignation: Historical Data and a Deeper Analysis Show It’s Not as Great as Screaming Headlines Suggest

COMMENTARY | While the number of U.S. workers quitting their jobs in 2021 was higher than normal, it isn’t quite as big as it seems, because large numbers of them have been quitting for years.

  • By Jay L. Zagorsky, The Conversation

Lurking Behind Lackluster Jobs Gain Are a Stagnating Labor Market and the Threat of Omicron

The job market continued to improve in December, but a stagnating labor pool will pose more challenges for employers in 2022.

  • By Christopher Decker, The Conversation

8 States Ask for Further Interest Reprieve on Unemployment Loans

An interest waiver on the federal loans to states expired in September. Now states that face millions in borrowing costs are looking for more of a break.

  • By Bill Lucia

Report: Immigrants Could Help Revive the Middle Class

Allowing more foreign-born people into the U.S. could help solve the country’s labor-force challenges and catalyze upward mobility for American-born workers, according to Brookings.

  • By Andre Claudio

'A Significant Wave of Modernization' Coming to Unemployment Systems

More than $87 billion in fraudulent unemployment claims were filed with states nationwide since the pandemic began, which is prompting states to overhaul their antiquated systems.

  • By Sharon O'Malley

Quitting Your Job or Thinking About Joining the ‘Great Resignation’? Here’s What an Employment Lawyer Advises

A record number of Americans are quitting their jobs. But before you opt to join them, you should consider the risks and costs.

  • By Elizabeth C. Tippett, The Conversation

There Are More Jobs Than Jobless People in 42 States

The labor shortage is by one measure the most acute since 1968.

  • By Tim Henderson, Stateline

States Decide if Workers Fired Over Vaccine Mandates Can Collect Unemployment

When employers fire people because they fail to follow company policy, employees are generally not eligible for benefits. But three states have or could make non compliant workers eligible.

  • By Andrea Noble

Surging Catalytic Converter Thefts Spur State Crackdowns

The pollution control devices contain precious metals worth thousands of dollars per ounce.

  • By Jenni Bergal, Stateline

Where Unemployment Rates Are Bouncing Back the Most and Least

Nebraska tops the list of states where the unemployment rates are bouncing back the most. New Jersey comes in last.

  • By Andre Claudio

The New Rules of Government Recruiting

COMMENTARY | As many organizations are aware, hiring was tough pre-pandemic and is only harder now.

  • By Jenny Kosek
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Does Raising the Minimum Wage Kill Jobs?

COMMENTARY | The question is actually one of the most studied in all of economics and still doesn’t have a definitive answer – though Nobel-winning economist David Card got us closer.

  • By Veronika Dolar, The Conversation

State and Local Government Job Growth Lags Behind Private Sector

City and county payrolls are down more than 5% from pre-pandemic totals, excluding education positions, according to a report.

  • By Andre Claudio

September Saw One of the Biggest Drops in Women’s Jobs Since Pandemic Began

More than 300,000 women left the labor force last month, the second time in the pandemic that the start of a new school year and loss of child care has caused a major drop-off of women from the workforce.

  • By Chabeli Carrazana, The 19th

Feds Step In to Assist States With Unemployment Fixes

The Labor Department has deployed “tiger teams” to six state unemployment agencies, with experts looking for solutions to speed up payments and reduce fraud.

  • By Andrea Noble

The Unemployment Insurance System Is Set to Get a Tech Makeover — but It Needs Much More, the Biden Administration Says

The Labor Department has launched an overhaul of the technology that runs the unemployment insurance system, which was overwhelmed by claims and plagued by fraud during the pandemic. But the agency says Congress must act to fix deeper problems.

  • By Cezary Podkul, ProPublica

10 States Didn’t Pay Off Unemployment Loans Ahead of Interest Deadline

States that borrowed money from the federal government to cover unemployment benefits began to accrue interest Monday. Together they have more than $45 billion in loans outstanding.

  • By Andrea Noble

Fleecing the States: Fraud in State-Administered Pandemic Programs

COMMENTARY | Since the pandemic began, billions of dollars have been stolen from state unemployment benefit systems—systems that weren’t designed to identify or stop this type of cybercrime. 

  • By Linda Miller and Martin O'Malley

States Borrowed Billions to Pay Unemployment Benefits. Soon Interest is Due.

Fourteen states owe $54 billion to the federal government for loans to keep unemployment trust funds solvent during the pandemic.

  • By Andrea Noble

The States Where Unemployment Claims Have Shrunk the Least and the Most

The biggest gainers are in the South and the Great Plains and the losers are everywhere.

  • By Jean Dimeo