WASHINGTON (AP)
No picnic for millions this Labor Day
Sat Aug 30 18:36:06 2003
67.1.130.179

http://www.cnn.com/2003/US/08/30/labor.day.ap/index.html
No picnic for millions this Labor Day

WASHINGTON (AP) --This Labor Day will be no picnic for millions of
Americans who are unemployed or unable to find full-time work that will
cover the bills.

The recession officially ended almost two years ago, and while
recent data show sluggish yet certain improvements in the economy, they
haven't trickled down to the job market. More than 9 million people are
unemployed -- 700,000 more than a year ago.

Layoffs have eased some, but there's little else in the economy to
cheer workers and job seekers on this holiday that honors them.

Vicky Kitzman, 34, was laid off in June 2002 from her
$21.50-an-hour job as a computer engineer at WorldCom. She now is
working at a Colorado Springs amusement park to make ends meet.

Kitzman is paid $7 an hour as a temporary, seasonal retail
supervisor with no benefits. The job ends December 24, when the park
closes for the winter.

The pay "covers nothing really," she said. "All it's doing is
keeping me from digging deeper into my savings account."

Her retired parents are helping pay her mortgage. At job
interviews, she's told she's either overqualified or unqualified.

"I haven't found a job in over a year -- how can I be
overqualified?" said Kitzman, who has associates' degrees in commercial
art and computer programming and is taking classes at night to finish
her bachelor's in computer program management.

Twenty months after the recession ended, the economy has still
failed to create substantial numbers of new jobs, making this the
weakest recovery since post World War II. The previous record was 13
months in 1992, according to the Economic Policy Institute, a liberal
Washington think tank.

Worst recovery since the Depression
In terms of employment growth, the recovery is the worst since the
Great Depression, EPI said. Employment has fallen by 1 million since the
recovery began. Since the start of the recession in March 2001, about
2.7 million jobs have been lost.

Just this year, 6.4 million new workers have qualified for
unemployment insurance.

"People have a right to feel insecure about employment right now
and nervous about their near-term prospects," said Jared Bernstein,
EPI's senior economist. "This is a different Labor Day compared to
previous years. There's fewer jobs. Wages are growing more slowly."

The weak economy is the issue the White House considers to be
President Bush's greatest vulnerability. Mindful of the fate of Bush's
father, the first President Bush, workers dissatisfied with their
employment and earnings prospects aren't the voters that Republicans
want streaming to the polls in November 2004.

Analysts say the economy will continue to improve, with hiring
starting to pick up in coming months. Hiring in health care has remained
strong, and new openings also are expected in business and social
services.

Social services, particularly child care and residential care,
also should produce new jobs. But manufacturing, which has been hardest
hit in the recession, will continue to decline, analysts said.

So the question remains: Is there enough time for a turnaround in
the jobs market to satisfy voters before the election?

AFL-CIO President John Sweeney doesn't think so.

"I travel this country constantly," he said. "People are very
dissatisfied with the way this country is going. They want jobs and the
ability to make a bread-and-butter living. They want affordable health
care, and they want their basic freedoms honored on the job."

Organized effort to oppose Bush
Organized labor will unleash its largest effort ever, spending
more than $40 million to educate and mobilize union members to oppose
Bush in 2004.

Because union workers represent just 13.2 percent of the total
work force and are declining, the AFL-CIO is creating a non-employment
union, Working America, to attract activists who may not be able to join
a union at work, but want to participate in labor's issues.

Layoffs have hit a wide range of workers in a variety of
industries with all kinds of experience and education levels.

Ruby Giles of Maywood, Illinois, was laid off from her nursing
home job of 20 years in March 2001.

"Really, I was surprised," she said. "You had been somewhere so
long, gotten so adjusted to the place. It wasn't far from my home and I
had gotten so used to the patients there."

The nursing home shut down, and Giles, 59, with high blood
pressure and other health problems, can't afford to retire. She can't
find another full-time job with benefits either.

"I have a daughter who helps me out a lot," Giles said. "But
everything is so expensive. I worry because you just don't know what to
expect."

The nation's unemployment rate, now at 6.2 percent, down from a
nine-year high of 6.4 percent in June, has remained relatively low
compared to previous recessions.

David Wyss, chief economist with Standard and Poor's DRI, thinks
6.4 percent probably will mark the peak rate, with slight declines in
coming months.

"This was not much of a recession," he said, noting that almost
every postwar recession has seen unemployment rates above 7 percent.

"The bad thing is, it's not much of a recovery either," Wyss said.

But layoffs are slowing slightly. For two straight weeks, new
claims for unemployment benefits have remained under 400,000 -- a level
associated with a weak job market.

"People who have a job have less to worry about," Wyss said. "On
the other hand, we're not seeing a lot of hiring either. We're hoping
that picks up late this year."

That means people who are unemployed are remaining jobless longer.
The average duration of unemployment is 19.3 weeks.



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