These dismal reports on home sales capped a week of bad economic news. On Aug. 19, the Department of Labor reported that new claims for unemployment insurance rose for a fourth week in a row, to a nine-month high of 500,000. The total number of people getting state or federal unemployment insurance topped 10 million. This level of new claims for unemployment insurance points to job losses in the private sector for the first time this year, on top of job losses at the local, state and federal levels of government due to budget cuts and the end of temporary census jobs.

With the housing and job markets in retreat, the threat of another downturn in the overall economy, or what economists call a ‘double-dip,’ looks more and more likely. While most economists still say that they don’t expect a double-dip, the fact is that most U.S. recessions show a pattern of an initial fall in the economy, a period of recovery and then another leg down to a new low.

More ominously, a double-dip took place during the Great Depression of the 1930s, where the economic expansion that began in 1933 was followed by another severe recession in 1937-1938, when the government stimulus was cut back. With the stimulus of the 2009 American Recovery ad Reinvestment Act largely spent and Republicans trying to block more federal stimulus at every turn, there is the growing possibility that a new downturn will worsen.

Last week the Federal Reserve, which bought $1.7 trillion dollars of government and mortgage bonds to save the financial system, voted to keep buying bonds to replace those bonds that are paid back. The Fed still has the option of buying even more bonds, pumping even more money into the economy. The problem is that most of this money created by the Fed is sitting in banks, which have more than a trillion dollars of “excess reserves,” i.e. money that they could lend out, but aren’t.

U.S. corporations are also sitting on record amounts of cash from their swollen profits made by cutting jobs and squeezing more work out of their remaining employees. At the end of March, U.S. non-financial corporations had almost $2.5 trillion in their checking and savings accounts and money market funds, a record high.

With another economic downturn looming and an even more pro-business, pro-rich government in the cards for next year, working people, trade unions and grassroots community and student groups will have their work cut out for them in the fight to defend our livelihood, homes, schools and communities.

#SanBrunoCA #EconomicCrisis #2009AmericanRecoveryAdReinvestmentAct

But the job gain in March was largely driven by more temporary and part-time jobs. In the monthly survey of business, more than half the new jobs were temporary jobs, including 48,000 temporary Census jobs. In a separate unemployment report based on a survey of households, the Labor Department reported that 264,000 more people were working in March, but that there were also 263,000 more people working part-time because they couldn’t find full time jobs. This surge in part-time workers pushed a broader measure of underemployment (that includes these part-time workers as well as those who gave up looking) another one-tenth of one percent to 16.9% in March. The official unemployment rate was steady at 9.7%, the same as in February. It is not clear when or if businesses will start to hire more permanent, full-time workers.

The unemployment report also showed a continuing surge in long-term unemployment. The average length of time an unemployed worker had been without a job rose to more than 31 weeks, the longest since this statistic began to be collected in 1948. The number of people out of work for more than six months rose by 414,000, to reach 44% of the total number unemployed. In a possible sign that the growing number of long-term unemployed were putting downward pressure on wages, the average hourly wage dropped in March as compared to February.

While the unemployment rate for whites remained the same as in February at 8.8%, the unemployment rate for Africans increased from 15.8% in February to 16.5% in March. The unemployment rate for Latinos also rose, but by a smaller margin, to 12.6% in March.

One sign of future job losses was the decline in workers in state and local government jobs. Many state and local governments are facing a double whammy of continuing budget deficits and the loss of federal government economic stimulus moneys later this year, which could lead to mounting job losses. The financial sector also continued to cut jobs (21,000 in March) and they face a potential slowdown as the Federal Reserve Banks continues to cut back on the large number of special loan programs designed to help the financial sector.

Despite the month of job gains, the labor market has a long way to go to make up for the more than 8 million jobs lost in the recession. The rising number of long-term unemployed, together with the growing number of people who have given up looking for work, show the continued need for a Federal Government Jobs Program and more aid to state and local governments. With the 75th anniversary of the start of the Depression era Works Progress Administration (WPA, later renamed the Work Projects Administration) on April 8, 1935, there is no better time for a new federal jobs program.

#SanBrunoCA #Labor #EconomicCrisis

San Bruno, CA – Hundreds of Skyline College students left class and gathered on the campus quad for their Day of Action protest against budget cuts, on March 4. The action was organized by Skyline Against Cuts, which grew out of the students’ struggle against budget cuts last fall. After a short song, Skyline Against Cuts leader Michelle Araica led off the march. As student marshals held open doors, led chants and stopped traffic, nearly 500 students and a dozen or more faculty and staff supporters marched through almost all the buildings on campus, chanting “Hey hey! Ho ho! Budget cuts have got to go!”

After the march, there was an 11 a.m. rally that included faculty and students speaking out against the budget cuts. Skyline history professor George Wright told the students that this was a “historic protest” along with other schools throughout the state and across the country. Later that afternoon, carloads of students went to a 5 p.m. rally in San Francisco’s Civic Center called by local unions. A contingent of teachers from the faculty union, American Federation of Teachers 1493 also went to the rally.

This protest was possibly the largest student action ever in Skyline’s 40-year history. Skyline College is a small community college with about 10,000 students, located about 15 miles south of downtown San Francisco. It has a fairly diverse student body (45% Asian, 25% White, 20% Latino, and 10% other) which is mainly working-class. It is a commuter campus which empties out in the afternoon and then fills up again in the evening.

The college, like almost all community colleges in California, mainly depends on the state government for its operating funds. Last fall, the district called for $7 million in cuts for the upcoming year (2010-2011) due to the state government cutting 10% from spending on community colleges. At Skyline, the Child Development Center, which provided on-site childcare for both students and staff, as well as being a site for the college’s Early Childhood Education program was put on the chopping block. There had already been deep cuts in programs and services for disabled, low-income and first-time college going students, along with cuts in class sections. The struggle against these cuts led to the formation of Skyline Against Cuts last fall.

In February, Skyline Against Cuts organized a teach-in that involved faculty, student service directors and campus workers that drew hundreds of students. Following the teach-in many new student organizers joined Skyline Against Cuts and they began to plan for the March 4 Day of Action and organize for a student walk-out. Student organizers began tabling in the cafeteria, speaking in classes, putting up flyers and reaching out to other student groups. To build up for the Day of Action students did a ‘flash mob’ in the campus quad which got a front page photo in the school newspaper.

Through the fall struggle and the teach-in, students had formed a strong alliance with progressive faculty in the new Concerned Faculty of Skyline College. The Concerned Faculty had also formed in the fall to oppose the termination of two academic programs, Health Sciences and Nutrition. Faculty were angry that programs were being cut and the fact that faculty had no cost of living increase while most administrators were getting an average of 24% increase in their salary schedules.

Skyline Against the Cuts was also able to forge a broad united front in support of the March 4 day of Action. Students, along with Concerned Faculty members, mobilized for a meeting of the faculty Academic Senate and got a strong resolution in support of the Day of Action passed. Skyline Against the Cuts also met with the student government to get them to pass a resolution in support of March 4 and to work together on a rally that day. Students had support from the faculty union, which provided buttons and coverage of the teach-in. They also reached out to the California State Employee Association, which represents office staff and to facilities workers represented by AFSCME (American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees). Members from these unions had borne the brunt of job cuts in the district, along with the part-time faculty.

The broad support for the Day Action led to a very positive statement from the college president to all the faculty and staff about the Day of Action. Some faculty members cancelled their classes; others cut their classes short so that their students could participate in the Day of Action.

I was able to speak with a number of students after the rally. Floyd Pitts, President of the Black Student Union and member of Skyline Against Cuts, was one of the main organizers of the Day of Action. He said, “I was glad to see such a big turnout. I hope that we can keep the energy going.” Morgan and Josh, two other organizers with Skyline Against Cuts, told me that they were excited to see picket lines at elementary schools on their way to college that morning.

I also spoke with Alejandra, who said that it was her first protest. She said, “It was very unified. I was happy to see the school come together to fight the budget cuts.” Another student, Mícheál, said that he had heard about the walk-out from one of the student organizers. He was thinking of going to class, but said that “When I got here, I saw the signs and people and I decided to stay. This was the most effective protest that I have every been in.”

This upsurge in student activism is part of a growing wave of struggle against budget cuts to education that is sweeping across California and most of the country. In addition to teach-ins, walk-outs and rallies, students are planning to march on the state capitol in Sacramento on March 22 and faculty are organizing educational programs about the budget cuts.

Masao Suzuki is a member of the Concerned Faculty of Skyline College and a participant in the March 4 Day of Action at Skyline College.

#SanBrunoCA #Labor #AFSCME #March4thMovement #SkylineCollege #SkylineAgainstCuts #ConcernedFacultyOfSkylineCollege

San Bruno, CA – On Feb. 5 the Department of Labor released their report on the January 2010 job market. The good news in the report was that the official unemployment rate fell from 10.0% in December to 9.7% in January. This is the biggest drop in the unemployment rate since the recession began in December 2007.

There was also a fair amount of bad news in the jobs report. Some 20,000 payroll jobs were lost in January, and the job loss in December was revised up to 150,000 jobs. There was an increase of 52,000 temporary jobs in January, which means that 72,000 permanent jobs were lost.

Despite the overall drop in the official unemployment rate, the unemployment rate for African Americans increased from 16.2% in December to 16.5% in January. This is twice the rate of white workers and is the highest unemployment rate for Blacks in the United States since 1984.

There were two parts of the jobs report that can be considered downright ugly. The first is that the total number of jobs lost in the recession was revised up by a million, to a total of more than 8.4 million jobs lost since the recession began in December 2007. Even if the economy recovers and jobs are added at the same rate as the 2001-2007 business expansion (which was aided by the housing boom), it would take more than seven years just to restore all the jobs lost in the recession.

The other ugly part of the jobs report was the continued rise in long-term unemployment. In January, more than 6.3 million people had been out of work for six months or more. This number has risen by 5 million since the recession began. With so many people out of work and so few job openings, it is taking an average of 30 weeks for jobless workers to find work or give up looking altogether.

One of the things even uglier than the job market is the lack of action by the U.S. Senate. Right now the extended federal unemployment insurance benefit program for the long-term unemployed will expire this month. If the Senate does not act to renew extended federal benefits, more than one million jobless workers will lose their benefits in March. This number will rise to five million by June.

#SanBrunoCA #EconomicCrisis

San Bruno, CA – On Nov. 18, the California Legislative Analyst’s Office (LAO) announced that the state was facing budget deficits of $20 billion each year for five more years . Over the past fifteen months, California responded to a total budget deficit of $77 billion with a combination of cuts in spending, increases in taxes on working people, federal economic stimulus monies and accounting tricks.

The budget cuts have fallen heavily on public higher education in California, especially the University of California (UC) and California State University (CSU) systems, which have taken 20% cuts in funding. UC students have been at the forefront of militant protests, with thousands hitting the streets on Sept. 24 and thousands more protesting the UC Board of Regents decision to hike tuition to more than $10,000 per year.

The cuts have not just hit UC and CSU students. In the latest round of budget cuts in July, the state cut $6 billion from K-12 public schools and community colleges. Almost $5 billion was taken from local governments, adding to the budget problems of cities and counties. State workers were furloughed for three days a month, cutting their pay by almost 15%. Low-income families on SSI, Cal-Works (welfare), and Medi-Cal (California’s Medicaid health program) had their benefits cut.

These spending cuts hit low-income, working class and oppressed nationality (mainly African Americans, Asian Americans, Central Americans, Chicanos and Mexicanos who make up most of California’s non-white population) communities the hardest. These communities are already hit hard by soaring unemployment that averages more than 12% statewide. California is home to nine of the fifteen metropolitan areas with unemployment rates of over 15%. The metropolitan area with the highest unemployment rate in the country, 30%, is El Centro, California. El Centro is 85% oppressed nationality. High unemployment is contributing to even more home foreclosures and loss of health insurance.

California’s state budget is being hit by a triple-whammy of tax cuts, prison spending and the recession. Following the Proposition 13 property tax cut in 1978, the state took on the main role in funding local school districts, so K-12 education spending grew to about 45% of the state budget. Following the 1994 ‘three-strikes’ law, California came to be the state with the highest rate of imprisonment. Today two out of three state workers are prison employees. Finally, the recession has hit California tax revenues hard, despite increases in taxes on working people, such as the sales tax, which is now almost 10% in most areas of the state.

California is the only state that requires a two-thirds majority for both tax increases and to pass a budget. This allows a minority of right-wing Republican legislators to hold budgets hostage to their demands for more spending cuts. But pro-business Democrat legislators are also at fault. In the latest budget deal in July, the deficit was closed with spending cuts and accounting tricks without any tax increases. Democrat votes passed this deal in the legislature, while most Republican legislators voted against it.

While the federal government has provided billions of dollars in aid to California state and local governments, it was not enough to offset their budget deficits. Given the yawning budget gap, more federal aid is needed. In Washington D.C., concerns about the federal government deficit – $1.4 trillion (or $1400 billion) in Fiscal Year 2009 – is said to limit the options to create jobs or aid state governments. But right now the escalating war in Afghanistan is costing more than a $1 million per soldier per year. It is clear that the Obama administration is placing priority on the military over education and on bombs rather than books and jobs.

In the middle of cutting spending and raising taxes for working people, the California government has given businesses tax cuts worth almost $2 billion dollars a year! Educational administrators such as UC President Yudoff, who has a pay package that costs more than $800,000 a year and a mansion that costs about $300,000 a year to maintain, are rewarded with stunning pay increases.

On college campuses across the state, students, staff and faculty are mobilizing to oppose tuition hikes and cutting programs. They are raising the slogan of “chop from the top” to cut administrative costs and protect classes and student services. A new tide of activism is growing on California college campuses.

Masao Suzuki is Professor of Economics at Skyline College and active with a group of concerned faculty fighting for more cuts in administration and against the termination of programs.

#SanBrunoCA #SanBruno #StudentMovement #BudgetCuts #UniversityOfCalifornia