Big Labor literally makes the US job picture worse.
Initial claims for state unemployment benefits rose 5,000 to a seasonally adjusted 417,000, the Labor Department said on Thursday. The level suggests the job market is still having trouble gaining momentum, but it falls well short of a recession signal.
Striking Verizon [VZ 35.95
-0.52 (-1.43%)
] workers filed 8,500 claims for jobless benefits last week, after submitting 12,500 applications the previous week, which covered the period for the August nonfarm payrolls survey.
That suggests the strike, which has ended, would have a negative affect on the payrolls count to be released on Sept. 2. The department will provide a more definitive reading of the strike’s impact in its monthly strike report on Friday.
The Verizon strike was the work of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers and the Communications Workers of America, both of which are AFL-CIO affiliates. Big Labor may be the biggest single empire/racket in the United States.
I suppose strikers always do this. Not being a union member, and never having even contemplated a strike, I don’t have any direct experience here. But if striking against your employer during the worst economy in decades with non-union layoffs hitting thousands of Americans everywhere, and then running off to file for unemployment, doesn’t scream “spoiled” I don’t know what does.
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