Recently in Unemployment Category

Unemployment rates spiked up a bit last month, when the country saw a decrease in new job creation, according to the New York Times. News reports say that the nation lost 125,000 jobs in the month of June, but that this trend in job loss is mostly due to the large number of temporary federal Census workers that left their jobs.

The United States added just 83,000 jobs across in the country in June. This number may seem like steady growth to some people, but economists say that the country needs to add about 130,000 jobs each month so that the economy can keep pace with all the new workers entering the market. The median duration of unemployment rose to about 25.5 weeks in the month of June, which is up from 23.2 weeks in May.

If a person is put out of work at no fault of his or her own, then that person is usually entitled to receive unemployment compensation. This compensation is meant to provide temporary financial help to people who are actively searching for full-time work after they've been put out of a job.

The Texas Unemployment Compensation Act is the law that governs the unemployment insurance benefits in the state of Texas. Under this law, Texans are allowed to collect money during unemployment when they have earned wages in at least two of the past four base period calendar quarters. Wages during this base period are used to calculate the benefit amounts that you will receive.

Unemployment compensation can be very valuable for workers who were recently put out of a job. So if a person is denied unemployment benefits, when he or she believes that they're entitled to such benefits, then it may be a good idea to call a Houston employment lawyer and learn about the possibilities of filing a legal claim in order to collect unemployment compensation.

The Southeast Texas Record reports that a woman from Galveston County is now suing her former employer RK Resources and the Texas Workforce Commission over unemployment benefits. The plaintiff, Angie Smith, says that she qualifies to receive the unemployment benefits because she involuntary separated from her company when she was informed that her salary was going to be reduced.

The national unemployment rate continues to rise as it reached 9.9 percent in the month of April, according to the Dallas Business Journal. Yet, the U.S. economy reportedly added 290,000 jobs in the month of April.

Job gains occurred in the manufacturing, professional and business services segments, as well as in healthcare, leisure and hospitality. The 2010 U.S Census also provided a large number of jobs in the month of April. The possible discrepancy between job growth and the high unemployment rate could be due to the fast rate in which Americans leave the labor force and then re-enter soon after.

A job fair in Houston that happened earlier this week may be one of the biggest indicators that people in Harris County are still desperate to find employment. Fox News reports that there were dozens of unemployed Houstonians that showed up to the event on the southwest side of town on Wednesday.

There were 150 people that went to the West Gray Multi-service Center in the first 20 minutes of the fair in Houston. Some job seekers were forced to wait for hours if they wanted to talk to some select companies. And while a crowded job fair can be a good indicator of a desperate economy, the unemployment rate in Houston still amazingly stands better than most other regions of the country.

Angry employees packed into a Houston school board room last week only to hear bad news. Houston Independent School District trustees voted in favor of the superintendent's recommendation to cut 170 more jobs at the end of the school year. Fox News reports that with 170 more jobs being cut, the district is now eliminating a grand total of 414 positions.

While the majority of the 414 positions are in the district's administrative offices, 99 of the eliminated jobs are teaching positions. The reduction of positions comes in response to the district's $28 million dollar budget shortfall. The cutting of jobs is expected to save the school district $4.8 million dollars.

The University of Houston is trying to tighten its budget by implementing mandatory furlough days for faculty members, according to the Houston Chronicle. The furlough will apply to all full-time employees, which is about 4,000 people on the central campus. However, employees who earn below a certain amount will be exempt from taking mandatory time off without pay. The furloughs are expected to cut more than $15 million dollars from the university's budget over the next 17 months.

The story of furloughs at UH is sadly not all that uncommon. In addition to furloughs, some educational institutions have been forced to resort to layoffs. The Houston Chronicle reports that the University of Texas at Austin has laid off several dozen people in recent months in hopes of tightening a stiff budget. The university has also eliminated other positions through attrition and retirements. Employees at UH will also be expected take up to three unpaid days off this summer.

While the number of jobless claims were declining last month, CNN now reports that more and more people are filing for unemployment insurance for the first time. Data from the U.S Labor Department shows that there were 460,000 initial jobless claims filed in the week that ended April 3. This number was up by 18,000 from the previous week.

The Labor Department also reports that there were 4,550,000 people who filed continuing claims in the week ended March 27. And while that number may seem quite large, the 4.5 million continuing claims resemble the lowest level of continuing claims since December 20, 2008.