Tim McMahon, Editor of UnemploymentData.com

My grandfather lived through the Hyperinflation in Weimar, Germany--to say he was an original “gold bug” would be an understatement. I began reading his “hard money” newsletters at the age of 16 and the dividends from gold stocks helped put me through college. I began publishing the Financial Trend Forecaster paper newsletter in 1995 upon the death of James Moore editor of Your Window into the Future and the creator of the Moore Inflation Predictor©. FTF specializes in trends in the stock market, gold, inflation and bonds. In January of 2003, I began publishing InflationData.com to specialize in all forms of information about the nature of Inflation. In 2009, we added Elliott Wave University to help teach you the principles of Elliott Wave analysis. In January 2013, we began publishing OptioMoney. Connect with Tim on Google+.

Compensation Costs Up in September 0.3 Percent

October 29, 2011 by Tim McMahon

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics released the compensation costs for U. S. civilian workers on Friday October 28th. Wages and salaries are up 0.3% or roughly 1/3rd of 1% for the month. This represents 70% of the total of the cost of maintaining employees. The remaining 30% of the cost comes from benefits and they rose 0.1% over the month.

On an annual basis, employment costs have risen 2.0% for the 12 months ending September 2011. This is compared to an annual inflation rate of 3.87% based on the Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U. This is the most widely used measure of inflation. So even though costs rose almost 3.9% wages only rose 2% leaving the average wage earner 1.87% worse off than last year. This of course is not as bad as the nearly 10 of the working population that is currently unemployed.

Compensation Costs 9-11

OECD Unemployment Rate Hovering at 8.2% in July

September 13, 2011 by Tim McMahon

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) released its report on unemployment in OECD countries today.

The unemployment rate for the entire OECD area was unchanged for the fifth consecutive month at 8.2% in July 2011. The Euro area unemployment rate was unchanged at 10.0% for the second consecutive month and has hovered around this level since December 2010.

Between June and July unemployment rates for OECD countries displayed very little movement. The single highest rise was for Luxembourg (up 0.3 percentage points to 4.6%) while the greatest fall was in Mexico (down 0.5 percentage points at 5.3%). New August 2011 data for the United States (unchanged at 9.1%) and Canada (up by 0.1 percentage point to 7.3%) confirm this current picture of broad stability in unemployment rates.

Countries where high unemployment rates continue to persist include Ireland (14.5%), Portugal (12.3%), the Slovak Republic (13.4%) and Spain (21.2%).

Around 44.5 million people were unemployed across the OECD area in July 2011, down 2.0 million from July 2010 but still 11.4 million higher than in July 2008.

OECD Unemployment July

OECD Unemployment Rates, s.a.

Percentage of labour force

	2008	2009	2010	2010		2011		2011
				Q3	Q4	Q1	Q2	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul
OECD – Total	6.1	8.4	8.6	8.6	8.5	8.2	8.2	8.2	8.2	8.2	8.2	8.2	8.2
Major Seven	5.9	8.1	8.2	8.1	8.1	7.7	7.7	7.7	7.7	7.7	7.7	7.8	7.8
European Union	7.1	9	9.7	9.6	9.6	9.5	9.5	9.5	9.4	9.4	9.5	9.5	9.5
Euro area	7.7	9.6	10.1	10.1	10.1	10	10	10	10	9.9	10	10	10
Australia	4.2	5.6	5.2	5.2	5.2	5	4.9	5	4.9	4.9	4.9	4.9	5.1
Austria	3.8	4.8	4.4	4.4	4.2	4.4	4.1	4.5	4.3	4.1	4.2	3.9	3.7
Belgium	7	7.9	8.3	8.3	7.9	7.2	7.3	7.1	7.1	7.2	7.4	7.4	7.5
Canada⁽¹⁾	6.1	8.3	8	8	7.7	7.7	7.5	7.8	7.7	7.6	7.4	7.4	7.2
Chile	7.8	10.8	8.2	8	7.1	7.3	7.2	7.3	7	7.2	7.2	7.5
Czech Republic	4.4	6.7	7.3	7.1	7.1	6.9	6.5	6.9	6.7	6.6	6.5	6.5	6.4
Denmark	3.4	6.1	7.4	7.4	7.7	7.6	7.3	7.6	7.6	7.3	7.4	7.3	7.1
Estonia	5.6	13.8	16.8	16.1	14.5	13.6	12.8	13.6	13.6	12.8	12.8	12.8
Finland	6.4	8.2	8.4	8.3	8.1	8	7.9	8	8	7.9	7.9	7.9	7.9
France	7.8	9.5	9.8	9.8	9.7	9.7	9.7	9.7	9.7	9.7	9.7	9.8	9.9
Germany	7.6	7.7	7.1	6.9	6.6	6.4	6.2	6.4	6.3	6.2	6.2	6.1	6.1
Greece	7.7	9.5	12.6	13	14.1	15		15	15
Hungary	7.8	10	11.2	11.1	11	11	10.1	10.9	10.6	10.3	10	9.9	9.7
Iceland	3	7.2	7.5	7.8	8.5	7.4	6.7
Ireland	6.4	11.8	13.7	13.8	14.3	14.2	14.2	14.2	14.1	14.1	14.1	14.3	14.5
Israel⁽³⁾	6.1	7.5	6.7	6.6	6.5	6	5.5
Italy	6.8	7.8	8.4	8.3	8.3	8.1	8	8.1	8.1	8	8.1	8	8
Japan	4	5.1	5.1	5	5	4.7	4.6	4.6	4.6	4.7	4.5	4.6	4.7
Korea	3.2	3.6	3.7	3.6	3.4	3.9	3.4	4	4	3.6	3.3	3.3	3.3
Luxembourg	4.9	5.1	4.5	4.4	4.5	4.3	4.3	4.2	4.3	4.3	4.3	4.3	4.6
Mexico	4	5.5	5.4	5.2	5.4	5.1	5.5	5.2	5	5.2	5.5	5.8	5.3
Netherlands	3.1	3.7	4.5	4.5	4.4	4.3	4.2	4.3	4.2	4.2	4.2	4.1	4.3
New Zealand	4.2	6.1	6.5	6.4	6.7	6.5	6.5
Norway	2.5	3.1	3.5	3.5	3.5	3.2	3.3	3.2	3.2	3.4	3.3	3.3
Poland	7.2	8.2	9.6	9.5	9.6	9.4	9.5	9.3	9.4	9.5	9.5	9.5	9.4
Portugal	8.5	10.6	12	12.2	12.3	12.4	12.6	12.4	12.5	12.6	12.6	12.5	12.3
Slovak Republic	9.5	12	14.4	14.3	14	13.5	13.4	13.5	13.4	13.4	13.4	13.4	13.4
Slovenia	4.4	5.9	7.3	7.3	7.8	8.1	8.3	8.1	8.2	8.3	8.3	8.4	8.4
Spain	11.4	18	20.1	20.5	20.5	20.6	20.8	20.6	20.7	20.7	20.8	21	21.2
Sweden	6.2	8.3	8.4	8.3	7.9	7.7	7.5	7.6	7.7	7.4	7.7	7.4	7.4
Switzerland	3.2	4.1	4.2	4.5	3.9	3.9
Turkey	9.7	12.5	10.6	10.5	9.9	9.3		9.2	9.1	9.1	9.3
United Kingdom	5.6	7.6	7.8	7.7	7.8	7.7		7.7	7.6	7.7	7.8
United States ⁽²⁾	5.8	9.3	9.6	9.6	9.6	8.9	9.1	8.9	8.8	9	9.1	9.2	9.1

Work Ethic Initiatives

July 28, 2011 by Tim McMahon

The Importance of a Good Work Ethic

Employees with a good strong work ethic are critical to the success of a business. One of the key factors employers look for when hiring new employees is a good work ethic… it can be as important if not more important than experience or education.

What is a Good Work Ethic?

There’s a variety of factors that make up a good work ethic including:

Initiative:

Does the employee do things just because they need to be done rather than waiting to be told to do it?

Dependability:

Does he do what he says he is going to?

Honesty:

Can you trust him?

Responsibility:

Does he blame others or take responsibility for his actions?

Quality:

Does he take pride in her work or just do enough to get by?

Respect:

Does he respect others and can others respect him?

Teamwork:

Can he work with others and get the job done.

And finally…

Leadership:

Does he possess leadership qualities and are others willing to follow his lead?

An exceptionally good work ethic can even take an entry-level employee making less than $30,000 per year to full partner in less than three years as we will see…

OECD unemployment rate stable at 8.1% in May

July 15, 2011 by Tim McMahon

The OECD area unemployment rate was steady at 8.1% in May, unchanged for the third consecutive month. The Euro area unemployment rate was also stable at 9.9% for the third consecutive month.

Most OECD countries confirm the general pattern of steady or falling unemployment rates although Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Italy, Luxembourg, Spain, Sweden and the United States recorded small increases in their May unemployment rates. New June 2011 data for the United States show a further rise of 0.1 percentage point to 9.2%.

Countries experiencing continuously high unemployment rates include Ireland (14.0%), Portugal (12.4%), the Slovak Republic (13.3%) and Spain (20.9%).

There were 44.0 million unemployed persons in OECD countries in May 2011, down 2.8 million from May 2010 but still 12.0 million higher than in May 2008.

Selected Unemployment Rates, s.a.
April 2011 – May 2011 ⁽¹⁾

OECD for April - May 2011

(1) United Kingdom: February 2011—March 2011.

Methodological Notes:

For methodological reasons, harmonised unemployment rates may differ from those published by national statistical institutes. All rates and levels quoted are seasonally adjusted (s.a.).

More methodological notes are available at http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/21/0/44743407.pdf.

Access data:

The latest unemployment rates for all OECD countries and geographic groupings, as well as historical data, can be downloaded from the OECD online data dissemination facility OECD.Stat Extracts at: http://stats.oecd.org/wbos/Default.aspx?QueryName=251&QueryType=View&Lang=en.

Contacts:

For further information readers are invited to contact the OECD’s Media Relations Division on

(33) 1 45 24 97 00 or e-mail news.contact@oecd.org

For technical questions contact stat.contact@oecd.org

Next release: Tuesday, 13 September 2011

Teen Employment Rate Plunges

July 9, 2011 by Tim McMahon

Only 1 in 4 Teens is Employed

Teenage employment rates have averaged around 45% since the 1950’s but since 2000 the teenage employment rate has plummeted. Currently less than 25% of teenagers can find a job. But don’t worry the government has a plan to create 50,000 new jobs…

So what is this magic plan you might ask?

Teen Employment Rate Plummets

Almost 1 Million Unemployed Show up for 50K McDonald’s Jobs

May 20, 2011 by Tim McMahon

Recently McDonald’s decided to have a mass hiring of 50,000 new employees for it’s US based hamburger restaurants some of which will be full-time and some part-time. They actually ended up hiring 62,000 new employees as a result of all the applications they received. Because many of the restaurants are owned by franchisees the wages are not controlled by the company but many of the jobs were estimated to be for more than the nationwide minimum wage of $7.25 / hr. and managers can make up to $50,000 per year. [Read more…] about Almost 1 Million Unemployed Show up for 50K McDonald’s Jobs

OECD unemployment rate remains at 8.2% in March

May 12, 2011 by Tim McMahon

The OECD area unemployment rate, at 8.2% in March 2011, was unchanged from February following three consecutive monthly decreases. The Euro area unemployment rate was also stable at 9.9%.

For the first time since the start of the financial crisis in 2007, unemployment rates are showing a steady or declining pattern in most OECD countries. Italy, Luxembourg, Spain and Sweden were the only countries whose unemployment rates rose in March. New data referring to April 2011 also show a rise (by 0.2 percentage point, to 9.0%) for the United States.

Countries experiencing continuously high unemployment rates include Hungary (11.9%), Ireland (14.7%), Portugal (11.1%), and the Slovak Republic (13.9%). Spain’s 20.7% unemployment rate means that, since May 2010, over one in every five people in the Spanish labour force has been unemployed and seeking work.

There were 44.4 million unemployed persons in OECD countries in March 2011, down 2.6 million from March 2010 but still 13.6 million higher than in March 2008.

Selected Unemployment Rates, s.a.

February 2011 – March 2011 ⁽¹⁾

Unemployment Rate in OECD Countries Falls in February

March 12, 2011 by Tim McMahon

OECD unemployment rate records fourth consecutive fall at 8.2% in February

The OECD area unemployment rate fell again in February 2011 to 8.2%, down 0.1 percentage point from January. This was the fourth consecutive decrease, following a period of stability of around 8.5% throughout most of 2010. New March 2011 data show further declines of 0.1 percentage point in the unemployment rates of both the United States (to 8.8%) and Canada (7.7%).

The February data show, for the first time since the recent financial crisis, a pattern of declining or steady unemployment rates for the majority of OECD countries. The unemployment rate fell in the Euro area to 9.9%, the first time back into single digits since December 2009. Austria, Korea, Mexico and Spain were the only countries recording rises in their unemployment rates. Countries still experiencing very high unemployment rates include Hungary (12.0%), Ireland (14.9%), Portugal (11.1%), the Slovak Republic (14.0%) and Spain (20.5%).

There were 44.9 million unemployed persons in OECD countries in February 2011, down 2.1 million from February 2010 but 14.3 million higher than in February 2008.

Selected Unemployment Rates, s.a.

January 2011- February 2011

Workers Compensation Costs for December 2010

January 28, 2011 by Tim McMahon

January 28,2011

The Bureau of Labor Statistics released the data on compensation costs today.

Compensation costs for civilian workers increased 2.0 percent for the 12-month period ending December 2010. The majority of the increase came from an increase in benefits costs, i.e. primarily retirement costs. Benefits costs were up 2.9% compared to a 1.6% increase in wages and salaries.

During the previous year (2009) the increase in compensation costs was 1.4 percent.

Unemployment Rate Down in December

January 7, 2011 by Tim McMahon

January 7, 2011

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics the unemployment rate fell by 0.4 percentage points to 9.4 percent in December which is not surprising because of the increase in seasonal workers for the holidays (retail trade employees were up 12,000 in December). But it was not just retail employees that increased. An overall good sign was that total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 103,000 in December. Employment rose in leisure and hospitality by 47,000 in December, indicating consumers are not feeling the pinch as much as in previous months and are spending more on discretionary expenditures. Other increases came in health care with 36,000 new jobs, mining added 5,000 jobs and manufacturing added 10,000 jobs but unfortunately construction employment lost 16,000 jobs. Employment changed little in other major industries.