It's the Economy Stupid!

By Rodney Brown

The Bureau of Labor statistics reported that Syracuse's metropolitan area lost 3,195 jobs in January and the unemployment rate rose to 9.1 percent.

While the country's economy began to slowly recover on Wall Street many living on America's Main Streets continued to apply for unemployment benefits in states throughout the nation.

Prior to America's economic downturn the City of Syracuse struggled with high unemployment and poverty; especially among its minority population.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Of America's 100 largest cities, Syracuse had the third highest poverty rate in 2005. Of those 100 cities Syracuse also had the highest poverty rate among African Americans with 42.5 percent living below the federal poverty line of $19,350 for a family of four.

In June 2009 the New York State Labor Department (NYSLD) Commissioner M.Patricia Smith outlined a wide range of initiatives designed to ease the vices of unemployment and sustain the growth of businesses. These include training programs, federal tax credits for new hires and an initiative that helps companies avoid potential layoffs.

Almost a year after the NYSLD launched its efforts to slow down the rapid rise of unemployment in metropolitan cites throughout state- the percentage rate in Syracuse rose from 8.0 percent in May 2009 to over 9 percent in April 2010.

Recently they have been calls by many people and organizations for President Obama to focus more attention to the disproportionate impact in the recent economic down turn on unemployment in the black community.

In March the President met with both black and Hispanic leaders. "We talked about the desperation that we're feeling in our communities' throughout the country," said Barbara Lee, head of the Congressional Black Caucus after the meeting.

Many Foreign Trade Relations experts blame the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) for the destruction of America's job market.

NAFTA was negotiated by former President George H.W. Bush and signed into law by former President Bill Clinton. The NAFTA agreement was designed to facilitate trade among Mexico, Canada and the United States. The agreement came into force January 1, 1994.

Millions of Americans lost jobs in the blue collar sector including, industrial and manufacturing because the agreement gave large American corporations the choice to move their businesses to foreign countries without penalty and hire workers willing to work for salaries far below the federal minimum wage. While American corporation's stock prices grew with the use of cheap labor American workers were laid off and the job market dried up.

A former Foreign Minister of Mexico said, NAFTA was an agreement for the rich and powerful in the United States, Mexico and Canada; an agreement effectively excluding ordinary people in all three societies. The NAFTA agreement has been deemed by Foreign Relations experts as rules that protect the interests of large corporate investors while undercutting workers rights, environmental protectors and democratic accountability.

In March during Congressional Hearings on the economy Rep. Marcy Kaptur, OH-D told a panel consisting of Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, Office of Management and Budget Director Peter Orszag and Christine Romer, chairwomen of Economic Advisers, - they paid more attention to fixing things for banks on Wall Street investors than for average Americans and called their testimony "dismaying and out of touch."

Unlike the large corporations, American small businesses located in cities across the country has been forced to cut their payrolls and implement hiring freezes in order to reduce their business operative cost.

The Brookings Institution reported in nearly all metropolitan areas in the United States jobs have been moving to the suburbs for decades. In addition Brookings cited that in the largest metropolitan areas between 1998 and 2006 and 2007 jobs shifted away from the city center to suburbs in virtually all industries.

In March 2010 the NYSLD released a statement. "Our newly-revised jobs data indicate that the impact of the national recession on New York's State's economy was deeper than first estimated. Between 2008 and 2009, the drop in New York State's private sector job count increased from 183,300 to 245,000. "It's the highest level since 1992," said Dr. Peter A. Neenan, director of the Division of Research and Statistics.

During a telephone interview NYSLD representative encouraged businesses in Central New York that are considering cutting down their work force to apply for its "Share Work Program."

The program provides employers an alternative to layoff.

Rather than layoff a percentage of workers to cut costs, an employer can use the program to reduce the hours of all or a particular group of employees. In turn, employees can receive partial unemployment insurance benefits to compensate for their lost wages.

Under the Shared Work Program, participating employees do not see a reduction in their health insurance, retirement, vacation pay, or other fringe benefits.

On Thursday, April 08, 2010 the President's Administration released an "Unemployment Forecast" that outlined their predictions for the American job market beginning with 10 percent unemployment in 2010 with a decline to 9.2 percent in 2011, 8.2 percent in 2012 and 7.3 percent in 2013.

The latest monthly report on America's economy has been encouraging and publicly hailed by the President.

The March 2010 economic report showed the most job creation in three years. "We are beginning to turn the corner," said the President while visiting a manufacturing plant in Charlotte, NC. "We've broken the slide."

The United States Labor Department reported businesses across the country added 162,000 jobs and showed a boost in retail sales.

"I've often had to report bad news during the course of this year as the recession wreaked havoc on people's lives," Obama said. "Today is an encouraging day. The economy actually produced a substantial number of jobs instead of losing a substantial number of jobs."

In lieu of the good news the President noted the country's economic troubles are far from over. "We shouldn't underestimate the difficulties we face," he said. "We're still going through a hard time."