Jobless claims rise, trade gap narrows

The number of U.S. workers filing new claims for jobless benefits rose more than expected last week, but a surprise narrowing in the trade gap in October suggested the economic recovery was becoming entrenched.
Initial claims for state unemployment insurance rose 17,000 to 474,000 last week, the Labor Department said on Thursday, after five straight weeks of declines.

Productivity Growth Revised

The Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics has revised its report on productivity in the third quarter of 2009. The bureau revised productivity down from 9.5 percent to 8.1 percent. Still, the productivity increase was the largest since the third quarter of 2003. The 8.1.-percent gain reflects a 2.9-percent increase in output and a 4.8 percent decline in hours worked.

Labor productivity is calculated by dividing an index of real output by an index of the combined hours worked of all persons, including employees, proprietors, and unpaid family workers.

The revised productivity measures released were based on more recent and more complete data than were available for the preliminary report issued last month.

In the third quarter of 2009, unit labor costs fell 2.5 percent, as productivity grew at a faster rate (8.1 percent) than hourly compensation (5.4 percent). Unit labor costs declined 1.4 percent over the last four quarters. The bureau defines unit labor costs as the ratio of hourly compensation to labor productivity; increases in hourly compensation tend to increase unit labor costs and increases in output per hour tend to reduce them.

Manufacturing sector productivity grew 13.4 percent in the third quarter of 2009, as output rose 8.4 percent and hours worked fell 4.4 percent. The third quarter gain in manufacturing productivity was the largest since the bureau began the survey in 1987.

All stressed out and no where to go

Teamwork helps solve problems

FMLA update

President Barack Obama last week signed legislation that makes several changes to the family military leave provisions of the Family and Medical Leave Act. Employers should act now to make the necessary changes.

The National Defense Authorization Act for 2010 (HR 2647) expands an employee's right to family military leave for an “exigency” associated with a family member's call to service in a foreign country. Under the new law, employees with a family member who is either in a regular component of the Armed Forces or a reserve component of the Armed Forces will entitled to “exigency leave.” Before the latest legislation, “exigency leave” was limited to employees with a covered family member in the National Guard or reserves only. Plus, the “old” law covered “contingency operations” only, which were defined specifically by regulation.

The new law also makes changes to the military servicemember caregiver leave provisions of the Family Medical Leave Act. The new legislation entitles employees to take up to 26 weeks of FMLA leave to care for a family member who is a servicemember or veteran who is undergoing medical treatment, recuperation, or therapy, for a serious injury or illness and who was a member of the Armed Forces (including a member of the National Guard or Reserves) at any time during the period of 5 years preceding the date on which the veteran undergoes that medical treatment, recuperation, or therapy. Previously, the 26 weeks of leave applied to employees caring for active military servicemembers only and not veterans.

Art of War

Opportunities multiply as they are seized.

Thinking.............. and then more thinking............

Problems cannot be solved by the same level of thinking that created them.

Albert Einstein