Author: Serkadis

  • Jay Z vandalizing 2011 Jaguar XJ for ‘On to the Next One’ video?

    Filed under: , , , , , ,

    On Wednesday night, as part of the run-up to the LA Auto Show, Jaguar held a sizable soiree at SoCal’s Milk Studios to show off its latest wares to the public and press, with a heavy focus on its 2011 XJ flagship.

    With the British automaker’s latest model taking center stage, Mike O’Driscoll, Jaguar’s managing director, discussed the finer points of the super saloon before announcing that rapper Jay Z will feature the XJ in his upcoming music video, “On to the Next One,” a track from his new album The Blueprint 3. The 60-second trailer we saw didn’t set our hearts on fire, but with Jaguar’s renewed focus on “making Jaguar Jaguar again” and its push to appeal to a broader swath of the world’s elite, the collaboration – although slightly awkward and mildly forced – could pay itself forward. It’s just a shame about Jay Z’s new logo being painted on the flanks of the luxury sedan.

    Jay Z vandalizing 2011 Jaguar XJ for ‘On to the Next One’ video? originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 04 Dec 2009 10:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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  • We’ve Still Got A LONG Way To Go On Jobs

    As shown by Calculated Risk below, despite today’s positive jobs data, we still have a very long way to go until unemployment returns to normal levels. Yet this can be read in a positive light as well — we still have much room for improvement when it comes to market expectations. The chart shows how the expectations hurdle has been set extremely low.

    Calculated Risk: The second graph shows the job losses from the start of the employment recession, in percentage terms (as opposed to the number of jobs lost).

    For the current recession, employment peaked in December 2007, and this recession is the worst recession since WWII in percentage terms, and 2nd worst in terms of the unemployment rate (only early ’80s recession with a peak of 10.8 percent was worse).

    Check out more of CR’s charts here.

    emp

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  • Take Two Interactive Plunges After Horrible Outlook

    2ksports_mlb

    Take Two Interactive’s stock is down 33% (35% earlier) to $7.15 a share.

    Turns out Take Two’s exclusive deal to produce Major League Baseball games just finished and has not been renewed.

    The deal is similar to the one Electronic Arts has with the NFL and the Madden franchise. CEO Ben Feder says baseball games are “very difficult” to sell properly.

    And to add insult to injury, the company’s 2010 outlook is very grim.

    Here’s the breakdown of Take Two’s earnings from Brendain Sinclair at GameSpot.com:

    For the final quarter of its 2009 fiscal year, which ended October 31, Take-Two had forecast adjusted earnings per share of $0.30 to $0.35 on sales of $350 million to $375 million. Today the publisher lowered the earnings per share range by $0.25 and cut $25 million from its sales projections. Final numbers for the quarter are expected to be announced later this month.

    Take-Two also gave investors its first outlook for the current fiscal year. For the 12 months ending October 31, 2010, the publisher expects sales of $1 billion to $1.12 billion, with an adjusted net loss per share between $0.40 and $0.60. Between $30 million and $35 million of that net loss (equal to $0.38 to $0.44 per share) will come from the company’s Major League Baseball business.

    Read the whole thing >>

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  • #SonyLatest – The New Sony Breaking News Wire And Twitter Hashtag


    sonylatest

    It’s time to push things once again to the next level. The only way Sony Insider is going to survive and have real longevity in the future is turning the website into a service. Sony Insider is a blog, or a digital magazine if you will, but the problem is that I read way more Sony news than what I (and Stan) publish every day. It’s impossible for us to cover everything, at least to the standard in which we usually present things. Originally when I started the site it was a sort of a graduation from creating Minidisc Community Forums and ATRACLife. Things have evolved greatly with varied and unique content, huge traffic gains, bulletproof CES performance, HD Video/Reviews, and now our latest effort – #SonyLatest.

    #SonyLatest is a hashtag. A hashtag is a way to unite global Tweets around some particular topic. Basically, these are tags that that help those who seek similar content discover your Tweets. And the plan is to keep it fresh. So fresh that its being updated 20-30 times a day with cherry picked links to the best Sony content we can find. I want this to be something big. I want this to be the lifestream of the Sony brand, covering everything possible for everyone to see when it happens. I want this to be a necessity, like as often you check a news site, such as how they have Breaking News. It also allows us to speak about upcoming SI stories, too. This won’t replace content on the site, but rather to make the site even more exciting to use every day.

    I have already placed two widgets on the site featuring #SonyLatest – one on the front page to the right of the main story on the main index page, and one to the right within a story. You can also click on the “Join the conversation” link and it will take you to our Twitter site that has #SonyLatest with all the posts to read in an easy manner. Anyone can contribute to #SonyLatest, but for now only #SonyLatest posts by us (@SonyInsider) show up on the widgets in the site.

    There’s no two paragraph description, advertisements, etc – it’s the topic title of the cool story we found, parenthesis with slight description if necessary, a shortened link to the story, and the hashtag #SonyLatest. Every link in #SonyLatest by us will always be legit. Only the best. I have ambitions to court several Sony twitterers too and see if they will start using it too. #SonyLatest is all about making Sony Insider and really the latest cool Sony links a service for the consumers and the fans.

    Let me know what you think and spread the word, friends.

    Also, I would like to thank @AndrewMagann for this idea, as I had watched him post links often to great Sony content in this manner. It made me realize how powerful that action can be if done consistently.

  • Gartman: Watch Out, Goldman Sachs And Apple Are Bucking The Uptrend

    GS Gartman Chart

    Analyst Dennis Gartman addresses the recent problems of Goldman Sachs (GS) and Apple’s (AAPL) declining stock prices:

    The Gartman Letter: We note that two of the real leaders of the US markets to the upside in recent months… Apple and Goldman Sachs… have turned quietly for the worse in recent days. Actually, in Goldman’s case, this turn-for-the- worse has developed over recent weeks, not days, with the top having been presciently made by the “call” by Ms. Meredith Whitney back in early October that the best earnings growth for Goldman was likely behind it and that more difficult times were ahead. In retrospect this was indeed a most prescient “call’ on Mr. Whitney’s part, continuing a rather long run of prescience on her part. The point here, however, is, that the trend line that defined Goldman’s bull run has been rather clearly broken as evidenced by the chart we’ve included in the lead position at the bottom of p.1 this morning.

    Since the early October high, GS has failed to make any newer highs, and indeed it has made new and lower lows instead. And now we note that the other leader, Apple, is acting as badly, if not worse, than has Goldman, beginning with the strange failure late in the session Monday which caught our eye, and continuing with the weakness Tuesday and on into yesterday.

    Where Goldman has broken its uptrend line, Apple has not yet done so, but that line is in jeopardy and it shall not take much to turn Apple from a powerful bull run into a potential bearish top. This we find disconcerting, for these were the leaders to the upside, and when the “Generals” fall we wonder what shall happen to the lesser cadres.

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  • How Do You Avoid Holiday Debt?

    The best way to avoid holiday debt is to watch how much you spend over Christmas! Make a note of how much you can afford to spend. Give yourself a limit and try not to go over it. Write down all the gifts that you are planning to buy for friends and family and take advantage of any special offers in stores that will allow you to save money.

    If you have a credit card, then stick to using cash instead, as you are more likely to go overboard with spending when using a credit card. If you don’t have a lot of money to buy big gifts in time for Christmas day, then stick to smaller ones and look for items in the sales after Christmas. You can use any gifts you buy after Christmas for birthday presents or even stock up for the next Christmas.

    Hope this helps!

  • BREAKING: Whitacre to shakeup GM management, put Lutz in product planning [UPDATE: Confirmed]

    Filed under: , ,

    Having just been appointed interim CEO at General Motors earlier this week, ex-AT&T man Ed Whitacre isn’t wasting any time in exercising his newfound authority. According to The Wall Street Journal, Whitacre is to announce a number of management changes this morning, including moving Vice Chairman Bob Lutz from his role in marketing to a more product planning-focused role. Whitacre is also expected to promote some of the company’s younger managers to new positions, although it has not yet been revealed who is targeted.

    According to the WSJ, Whitacre “drew up the new management blueprint in a matter of four hours,” suggesting to us that he already had a number of changes in mind. Further, he is also expected to combine GM’s sales and marketing divisions

    While Whitacre has only been on the job since Tuesday and he is technically only considered an interim appointment at this time, the search for a new CEO is thought likely to take months, if not a year. From the looks of things, Whitacre isn’t looking at himself as simply a placeholder, though, and we wouldn’t be surprised to see more changes as the weeks and months roll by.

    *UPDATE: Changes confirmed: GM has issued a press release (viewable after the jump). Among the moves, Bob Lutz will be an ‘advisor’ on design and global product – he will retain his title of vice chairman. Other changes include Mark Reuss named as president of GM North America, Susan Docherty appointed VP, vehicle sales, service, and marketing operations. For a full list of changes, click past the jump for the release.

    [Source: The Wall Street Journal I Image: Bill Pugliano/Getty]

    Continue reading BREAKING: Whitacre to shakeup GM management, put Lutz in product planning [UPDATE: Confirmed]

    BREAKING: Whitacre to shakeup GM management, put Lutz in product planning [UPDATE: Confirmed] originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 04 Dec 2009 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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  • Gold Plunges Below $1200 After Jobs Data

    Gold

    Investors are selling off gold after better than expected U.S. unemployment data.

    Note how gold tanked right after the jobs data was released. 13:29 shown in the image to the right corresponds with 8:29 A.M. in the U.S..

    Also, the dollar concurrently jumped right after the jobs data came out.

    Yet despite this dollar strength, stocks are up strong today with the S&P 500 gaining 1.5%.

    There goes the ‘everything trades up on a weak dollar’ meme.

    Gold

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  • Street View to Feature UNESCO World Heritage Sites

    Street View can be great for showing your friends where you grew up or exploring a location online before visiting it. But apart from its utilitarian nature, the site can also be a great way of exploring famous landmarks and interesting locations around the world regardless if you plan on visiting them soon or not. Google has been working on adding interesting locations to Street View apart from all the cities it already sports and has now partnered with UNESCO to include images from World Heritage sites in the service.

    “[T]he Street View team has been working with tourist agencies, the public and partners from across the world to bring a new kind of imagery to Street View, focusing on putting tourist spots and iconic cultural landmarks on the map in all their 360 degree beauty,” Kenzo Fong Hing of Google London wrote. “As part of this effort, we’re delighted to be announcing a global alliance with UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) to put imagery of World Heritage sites into Street View.”

    Google will visit World Heritage sites selected in accordance with UNESCO, from the countries where Street View is currently available or gathering images. Google says locations from Australia, Brazil, Canada, Japan, Mexico, South Africa, US and… (read more)

  • Another Golden Door Spa Recipe

    I’m absolutely in love with this amazing cook book from the acclaimed Golden Door Spa called Golden Door Cooks At Home! There’s nothing better then gourmet food that is actually healthy for you. Dishes that you can embrace because you won’t feel guilty afterward. I did a post yesterday which included a Creamy Cauliflower Recipe which looks amazing. Today I’m doing a post on this incredible salad that definitely will excite the taste buds.

    Here’s the recipe:

    Persimmon, Pomegranate, and Tangerine Salad with Roasted Shallot Balsamic Dressing

    Pomegranate Permissom and Tangerine Salad

    In this beautiful, savory fruit salad, pale, orange-colored wedges of crisp persimmon and juicy tangerines are dotted by tiny jewels of sweet-tart pomegranate seeds and dressed with deeply flavorful roasted shallot and balsamic vinaigrette. The two most common varieties of Oriental persimmons are fuyu and hachiya. Fuyu persimmons are squatter and much less astringent than the oblong hachiya. They are typically eaten when firm like an apple, although they can also be eaten when a little softer. They are sweet and a little less intensely flavored than hachiya. Choose fuyu with deep orange skin.

    SERVES 4

    2 large shallots (about 4 ounces total), peeled, trimmed, and quartered

    1/2 cup balsamic vinegar

    4 sprigs fresh thyme

    1 small pomegranate

    1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

    Pinch of kosher salt, or to taste

    Pinch of freshly ground black pepper, or to taste

    6 cups loosely packed field greens or mesclun

    1 firm fuyu persimmon, sliced into thin wedges

    2 tangerines, peeled (see page 51) and sliced crosswise ¼ inch thick

    Preheat the oven to 400°F. In a nonreactive, ovenproof skillet just big enough to hold the shallots, combinethe shallots, vinegar, and thyme sprigs. Cover the pan with aluminum foil and roast until the shallots are softened and the vinegar is reduced by half, about 40 minutes. If the vinegar is not sufficiently reduced and the shallots are still a bit firm, remove the foil and continue to roast, uncovered, for 5 to 10 minutes.

    While the shallots are roasting, prepare a large bowl of cold water. Cut the pomegranate in half lengthwise. Holding one half under the water, use your fingers to gently remove the seeds from the fruit. Most of them will float to the top. Repeat with the other half. Drain the seeds well, removing any pith left over. Set aside 1/3 cup. (Store any remaining seeds in the refrigerator for another use.)

    When the shallots are ready, remove the pan from the oven and carefully remove the foil. Let cool for 15 minutes. Remove and discard the thyme. Transfer the shal­lots and vinegar to a blender. Add 1/2 cup water and blend until the mixture is smooth but slightly chunky, 8 to 10 seconds. Add the olive oil and blend for 5 more seconds. Add the salt and pepper.Toss the greens with ¼  cup of the dressing and salt and pepper, if desired. Pilethe greens high in center of each of four plates. Scatter the persimmon wedges, tangerine slices,and pomegranate seeds over each salad. Drizzle with additional dressing and serve.

    ***

    There are so many health benefits to this salad while at the same time being full of flavor. Golden Door Spa breaks down the myth that in order to lose weight and eat healthy means to sacrifice flavor. This cookbook is the best way to get you on a healthier track and keep you entertained.

    Bon appetit.

    Image Credit and Recipe Source:  GOLDEN DOOR COOKS AT HOME: Favorite Recipes from the Celebrated Spa by Dean Rucker with Marah Stets (Clarkson Potter, April 2009, $40.00/ Hardcover)

    Post from: Blisstree

    Another Golden Door Spa Recipe

  • Spamming Patent Tossed Out As Obvious

    Slashdot points us to the news that a patent (6,631,400 — which appears to be incorrectly titled “Statement regarding federally sponsored research or development.”) on managing spamming efforts has been tossed out as obvious by the federal circuit, following a similar ruling at the lower level.

    What’s most interesting here is that while some of the steps were thrown out due to prior art, the final step was tossed out due to “common sense.” This is important. For quite some time, the courts seemed to insist that obviousness could only be proven through prior art. But something can be both obvious and new. In fact, the patent law has been clear that patents are supposed to be for things that are both new and non-obvious to those skilled in the art, but the question of obviousness was rarely discussed, as everyone just focused on the “newness.” That’s finally been changing, in large part due to the Supreme Court’s KSR ruling that reminded people that obviousness is important, and that it’s separate from newness. Since then, both examiners and the courts seem willing to put a bit more common sense into determining obviousness, and that’s absolutely a good thing.

    Of course, some of you might feel that having a patent on a spamming technique is a good thing, since it could be used to prevent others from spamming, but that didn’t seem to be happening anyway, so let’s just be happy that a bad patent has been rejected.

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  • FedEx Inflation: Raising Rates To Protect Margins

    fedex

    While FedEx has announced that they plan to increase their average shipping rates next year, by a substantial 4.9 – 5.9% depending on the service, this move shouldn’t be seen as simply a bullish indicator for the economy.

    Primarily FedEx needs to bolster its margins right now, which are down from where they historically have been. Operating margins were just 12.9% in fiscal year 2008 and 11.1% is the fiscal year 2009 according to Value Line. This is far lower than the 13.2% – 14.5% operating margins FedEx achieved during fiscal years 2004 – 2007.

    Price hikes are always based on a consideration of many factors such as revenue growth objectives and the strength of the economic environment. Yet this time around, while FedEx has said they see further economic recovery in 2010, they are probably more focused on the fact that they need to shore up margins.

    FedEx: will increase the standard list rates for FedEx Ground and FedEx Home Delivery by an average of 4.9 percent. FedEx SmartPost rates also will change. The new rates will be effective Jan. 4, 2010. FedEx Corp. previously announced that it would increase shipping rates for FedEx Express by an average of 5.9 percent for U.S. domestic and U.S. export services also effective Jan. 4, 2010.

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  • Lexus LFA to be sold in Europe through one dealership

    Filed under: , , , ,


    Lexus LFA at Lexus Park Lane – Click above for high-res image gallery

    We’re not the vindictive types here at Autoblog, but we can appreciate some measure of poetic justice. After all, how many lustworthy European supercars were made available over the decades to any European buyer with enough cash on hand, but those same cars were scarcely available on this side of the Pond? The Old Continent practically had the market cornered. But what goes around comes around, and in this case rather quickly, as Lexus has announced that its new groundbreaking LFA will be available in Europe, but only from one dealership. And that one location isn’t even on the continent. It’s in England.

    London’s Lexus Park Lane has been appointed as the sole sales location for the LFA in all of Europe. So any buyer from Monte Carlo to Oslo looking to get his or her hands on one is going to have to head here. A demonstration car has already arrived at the Park Lane showroom, and the dealership has appointed a dedicated “personal liaison manager” to handle all LFA sales.

    The one part where potential European customers have us beat is that, unlike North American clients who’ll have to lease their LFA, across the Atlantic customers can actually buy their example outright. Prospective customers can begin registering their interest now, orders will begin in the spring and deliveries will commence in 2011 and continue through 2013 until all 500 examples have been sold. Follow the jump for the full press release and check out the images in the gallery below.

    [Source: Lexus]

    Continue reading Lexus LFA to be sold in Europe through one dealership

    Lexus LFA to be sold in Europe through one dealership originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 04 Dec 2009 09:32:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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  • Goodbye!

    You were delicious.

    (Oh, okay, Ben Bernanke may not be raising rates just yet — taking away the punchbowl — but it’s way more likely now than it seemed at 8:29 this morning!)

    punch bowl fruit

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  • Did Today’s Jobs Report Kill The Dollar-Stocks Correlation?

    Stocks are up today, following this morning’s fantastic jobs report, but we wouldn’t bet our life that they’ll stay in the black until 4:00 PM.

    See, the dollar is up, too, in a violent reversal of the traditional inverse correlation between stocks and the currency. Ideally, for American investors and consumers, they could both rise at the same time.

    But if the dollar is powering higher on expectations of Fed tightening, and that notion spreads to stocks, then watch out!

    dollarcarrytradeunwind

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  • REPORT: GM selling control of Chinese joint venture to SAIC, half of India operations

    Filed under: , ,

    It has been a busy week at General Motors. The week started off with CEO Fritz Henderson’s abrupt resignation, then executives converged on the LA Auto Show where Bob Lutz was the keynote speaker and then the U.S. market Chevy Cruze was revealed. Now, the General is reportedly deep in negotiations halfway around the world with its Chinese partner, SAIC, to sell its partnership stake in what is now the largest auto market in the world.

    Here is how the deal will reportedly break down: According to Reuters, GM will give SAIC a scant one percent of its interest in the China venture and 50% of GM’s India operations. In exchange, the General would receive what amounts to about 20% of the value of the China venture. Sounds like a pretty sweet deal considering the fact that GM isn’t exactly a big player in the Indian market – but there is a very big downside. If GM cedes one percent of its joint venture with SAIC, then the Detroit, MI-based automaker would no longer control its China operations. The rumored deal will contain a proviso that the General can later buy back its lost percentage for a “premium price.” That sounds a little like GM just got a loan from SAIC and put up one percent of its ownership as collateral.

    While GM currently has over $40 billion in its cash coffers courtesy of its recent bailout and bankruptcy, The General is in a big hurry to pay back the money it owes the government. It also has to contend with what is still a very soft auto market – not to mention Opel restructuring costs that could tally $5 billion or more. But China is also a monster part of GM’s business plan, so any money gained from this deal could come at an even greater cost. We have to wonder if this deal had anything to do with Mr. Henderson’s abrupt exit stage left…

    [Source: Reuters]

    REPORT: GM selling control of Chinese joint venture to SAIC, half of India operations originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 04 Dec 2009 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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  • Vevo to Add Last.fm Content, Launch Next Week

    With just a few days until launch, Vevo has announced a new partnership with CBS which will bring some sort of Last.fm integration, as well as content from 90 CBS music radio stations. There aren’t too many details at the moment, but the deal should round out the content coming from the site’s parents Universal Music Group and Sony Music.

    CBS Interactive Music Group will provide live concerts, as well as in-studio performances, from the radio stations it controls. There will also be additional material like interviews and ‘behind the scenes’ content. How exactly this fits into a video site remains to be seen.

    Equally unknown is how Last.fm will be integrated, though CBS has been pushing to turn the site into a media brand rather than just a music streaming service and is set to launch Last.TV, a video component tied to the site featuring concert footage and the likes. Last.fm’s recent integration with Microsoft’s Xbox 360 games console proved a huge success and it’s clear that CBS has big plans for the site.

    Vevo, a joint venture of Universal and Sony music, is set to be launched next Tuesday. The site has been in the works for quite a while now and will be dedicated to music videos and related content. It was the brainchild of Universal Music which later convinced Sony to join as a partner, th… (read more)

  • Goldman: Save Africa Because “Health Buys Wealth”

    Aldous Snow

    There’s something odd about this new Goldman report, ‘Health Buys Wealth.’

    It talks about how rising standards of health can generate economic growth, and how some of the poorest places in the world are stuck in a poverty cycle whereby disease and early death prevents the economic growth necessary for improved living standards.

    It’s not that this report isn’t interesting, it’s actually very much so.

    It’s just that it doesn’t seem like investment research. While suggesting that private capital can help solve much of the world’s basic health problems, it never goes into much detail on how one would go about doing this to make money.

    While a great piece of research, to us it reads like something from a charity organization. Thus something about this smells of PR. What is this piece of research actually used for? Pitching for health care deals? Enlighten us, or tell us if you think we’re wrong.

    The need to look “beyond disease”

    Yet millions remain vulnerable to diseases that are both preventable and treatable. Access to cost-effective healthcare today remains limited, in large part because health systems in low-income countries are woefully understaffed and under-funded. Looking beyond a disease-specific approach, governments and donors also need to strengthen health systems, expand infrastructure and extend education, particularly women’s education.

    New opportunities: private funding and capital markets

    Among the key developments in public health over the past decade are the dramatic expansion of funding and the diversification of funding sources. Public/private partnerships, advance market commitments and fundraising in capital markets are now critical to improving health in low-income countries. We see ample scope for this to expand.

    GS Health Buys Wealth

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  • The Backward Revisions To September And October Are Great News For Jobs

    happy home homeowners homebuyers

    At the end of the BLS’s jobs report, this part stands out:

    The change in total nonfarm payroll employment for September was revised from-219,000 to -139,000, and the change for October was revised from -190,000 to -111,000.

    Backwards revisions aren’t just interesting. All government data, especially numbers collected in real time, involve trends and statistical analysis. When you see backwards revisions like this, it means all of the governments estimates are behind the curve, and that the real data is much better.

    It’s possible that if this months’ meager 11,000 jobs lost number is revised, we may have actually seen job creation this month, which would be mindblowing.

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  • BOOM: Unemployment Just 10.0%

    pinkslip tbi

    Analysts were looking for unemployment to hold steady at 10.2%, so this is way better than expected.

    And job losses were expected at -125,000, but the economy only shed 11,000.

    This is a great number.

    Past months were also revised higher.

    And the average work week of 33.2 hours is up from the all-time low of 33.0.

    Stocks, the dollar, and interest rates are all up. This could be the end of cheap money!

    Here’s the full announcement from the Department of Labor

    ——

    The unemployment rate edged down to 10.0 percent in November, and nonfarm
    payroll employment was essentially unchanged (-11,000), the U.S. Bureau of
    Labor Statistics reported today. In the prior 3 months, payroll job losses
    had averaged 135,000 a month. In November, employment fell in construction,
    manufacturing, and information, while temporary help services and health care
    added jobs.

    Household Survey Data

    In November, both the number of unemployed persons, at 15.4 million, and the
    unemployment rate, at 10.0 percent, edged down. At the start of the recession
    in December 2007, the number of unemployed persons was 7.5 million, and the
    jobless rate was 4.9 percent. (See table A-1.)

    Among the major worker groups, unemployment rates for adult men (10.5 per-
    cent), adult women (7.9 percent), teenagers (26.7 percent), whites (9.3 per-
    cent), blacks (15.6 percent), and Hispanics (12.7 percent) showed little
    change in November. The unemployment rate for Asians was 7.3 percent, not
    seasonally adjusted. (See tables A-1, A-2, and A-3.)

    Among the unemployed, the number of job losers and persons who completed tem-
    porary jobs fell by 463,000 in November. The number of long-term unemployed
    (those jobless for 27 weeks and over) rose by 293,000 to 5.9 million. The
    percentage of unemployed persons jobless for 27 weeks or more increased by
    2.7 percentage points to 38.3 percent. (See tables A-8 and A-9.)

    The civilian labor force participation rate was little changed in November at
    65.0 percent. The employment-population ratio was unchanged at 58.5 percent.
    (See table A-1.)

    The number of people working part time for economic reasons (sometimes re-
    ferred to as involuntary part-time workers) was little changed in November
    at 9.2 million. These individuals were working part time because their hours
    had been cut back or because they were unable to find a full-time job. (See
    table A-5.)

    About 2.3 million persons were marginally attached to the labor force in
    November, an increase of 376,000 from a year earlier. (The data are not sea-
    sonally adjusted.) These individuals were not in the labor force, wanted and
    were available for work, and had looked for a job sometime in the prior 12
    months. They were not counted as unemployed because they had not searched
    for work in the 4 weeks preceding the survey. (See table A-13.)

    Among the marginally attached, there were 861,000 discouraged workers in
    November, up from 608,000 a year earlier. (The data are not seasonally ad-
    justed.) Discouraged workers are persons not currently looking for work be-
    cause they believe no jobs are available for them. The remaining 1.5 mil-
    lion persons marginally attached to the labor force had not searched for
    work in the 4 weeks preceding the survey for reasons such as school attend-
    ance or family responsibilities.

    Establishment Survey Data

    Total nonfarm payroll employment was essentially unchanged in November
    (-11,000). Job losses in the construction, manufacturing, and information
    industries were offset by job gains in temporary help services and health
    care. Since the recession began, payroll employment has decreased by 7.2
    million. (See table B-1.)

    Construction employment declined by 27,000 over the month. Job losses had
    averaged 117,000 per month during the 6 months ending in April and 63,000
    per month from May through October. In November, construction job losses
    were concentrated among nonresidential specialty trade contractors
    (-29,000).

    Manufacturing employment fell by 41,000 in November. The average monthly
    decline for the past 5 months (-46,000) was much lower than the average
    monthly job loss for the first half of this year (-171,000). About 2.1 mil-
    lion manufacturing jobs have been lost since December 2007; the majority of
    this decline has occurred in durable goods manufacturing (-1.6 million).

    Employment in the information industry fell by 17,000 in November. About
    half of the job loss occurred in its telecommunications component (-9,000).

    There was little change in wholesale and retail trade employment in November.
    Within retail trade, department stores added 8,000 jobs over the month.

    The number of jobs in transportation and warehousing, financial activities,
    and leisure and hospitality showed little change over the month.

    Employment in professional and business services rose by 86,000 in November.
    Temporary help services accounted for the majority of the increase, adding
    52,000 jobs. Since July, temporary help services employment has risen by
    117,000.

    Health care employment continued to rise in November (21,000), with not-
    able gains in home health care services (7,000) and hospitals (7,000). The
    health care industry has added 613,000 jobs since the recession began in
    December 2007.

    In November, the average workweek for production and nonsupervisory workers
    on private nonfarm payrolls rose by 0.2 hour to 33.2 hours. The manufacturing
    workweek increased by 0.3 hour to 40.4 hours. Factory overtime rose by 0.1
    hour to 3.4 hours. Since May, the manufacturing workweek has increased by
    1.0 hour. (See table B-2.)

    In November, average hourly earnings of production and nonsupervisory workers
    on private nonfarm payrolls edged up by 1 cent, or 0.1 percent, to $18.74.
    Over the past 12 months, average hourly earnings have risen by 2.2 percent,
    while average weekly earnings have risen by 1.6 percent. (See table B-3.)

    The change in total nonfarm payroll employment for September was revised from
    -219,000 to -139,000, and the change for October was revised from -190,000 to
    -111,000.

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