Good News -- Employment Is Up!

The Bureau of Labor Statistics released its report on March employment figures.  The good news is that non-farm employment is up by 216, 000, almost 10% more than predicted.  The BLS reports 230,000 new private sector jobs, with 14,000 fewer local and state government jobs.

This is the best monthly showing for new jobs (excluding the one-time bump for temporary census workers last spring) since March, 2006.  At the same time, the unemployment rate was little changed at 8.8 percent, while the number of unemployed fell to 13.5 million. The "U-6" unemployment rate, which includes people with part-time jobs who want to work full time, as well as a portion of discouraged workers who are no longer looking for work, fell from 15.9 to 15.7 percent.  The number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks or more) increased from 6.06 million to 6.26 million.

The bad news is that we're still a long way away from getting back to where we were before the start of The Great Recession.  Since December, 2007, we've lost about 8.4 million jobs.  At current hiring rates, we won't reach the pre-recession peak level until January of 2014.  But, on the whole, I'll take the good news.

Unemployment Benefits Slashed In Michigan

What is it with Governor Rick Snyder and the Corporatist Republicans who are running Michigan?  On the heels of outlawing worker safety rules, the Michigan legislature has just voted to slash unemployment benefits.

Instead of 26 weeks of benefits, starting in January 2012 new claimants will only be able to collect unemployment for 20 weeks.  Thus, Michigan is now the only state that offers fewer than 26 weeks of state unemployment benefits.

This makes no sense.  In January, 2011, the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate in Michigan was 10.7%, while the national average was 8.9%.  In 2010, the average length of unemployment in Michigan 40 weeks.  As of November 30, 2010, about 162,000 people in Michigan had exhausted the extended 99 weeks of federal benefits.  And the Republican-controlled legislature thinks it's a good idea to cut benefits?!!?

In the meantime, Governor Snyder wants to cut corporate taxes by 86%.  Talk about a corporate tool!

Yes, You Can Be Fired For Being A Jerk

File this one under bad judgment.  In a decision to be released on March 22, the Connecticut Appellate Court found that being rude, insulting and obnoxious to your boss is sufficient misconduct to disqualify an employee from collecting unemployment when he gets fired.  In Joseph v. Administrator, Unemployment Compensation, the employer discharged the employee, an accountant, "immediately after he sent his supervisor two highly insulting and demeaning e-mail messages questioning her accounting and supervisory abilities."  This wasn't the first time the employee had been insulting and demeaning; he previously had accused co-workers and a former supervisor of both incompetence and some unspecified "fraud."  Unemployment denied his claim for benefits, in part because his offensive e-mails were not spontaneous, during a heated discussion, but were a deliberate attempt to undermine his supervisor.  The Appellate Court agreed, finding that, because the e-mails insulted his supervisor personally and undermined her supervisory authority, his actions rose to the level of willful misconduct in the course of employment.

You would think it's kind of obvious, that being an obnoxious jerk towards your boss is a good way to get yourself fired.  Could the employer have done something short of firing him?  Of course they could.  But the important point is that they were not required to do so.  So remember, my grandmother's advice (if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all) applies with the force of law in the workplace.