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More People Out of Work Means a Wider Selection for Your Business

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Jobless Claims Rise To 16 Month High.
By MARTIN CRUTSINGER, AP Economics Writer

The number of Americans filing applications for unemployment benefits shot up last week by the largest amount in 16 months, reversing two weeks of big declines.

The Labor Department reported Thursday that 325,000 newly laid-off workers filed claims for jobless benefits last week, an increase of 36,000 from the previous week. That was the biggest one-week rise since a surge of 96,000 claims the week of Sept. 10, 2005, when devastated Gulf Coast businesses laid off workers following Hurricane Katrina.

The increase of 36,000 was bigger than the 20,000 rise that had been forecast. Analysts, however, cautioned that it is difficult to read the claims figures at this time of year because of unusually wide swings caused by the holidays and other factors.

Based on past trends, claims numbers often surge in third week of the month as retail businesses shed seasonal workers hired to help with the crush of holiday shoppers. However, this year, the layoffs were much higher than in past years.

The jump in jobless layoffs followed a string of reports showing the economy was performing at a better-than-expected pace at the end of 2006 and the beginning of the new year. Employers added 167,000 new jobs in December, helping to keep the unemployment rate at 4.5 percent.

Economists believe that while growth has slowed because of the steep downturn in housing, they expect the United States will be able to avoid an outright recession.

The 36,000 increase in layoffs followed two weeks in which jobless claims had fallen by a combined 36,000. The four-week moving average for layoffs, designed to smooth out the weekly volatility, edged up slightly to 309,250 from 207,750 the previous week.

For the week ending Jan. 13, a total of 33 states and territories reported an increase in claims before adjusting for seasonal variations while 20 states and territories reported declines in claims.

The increases were led by California, which saw jobless claims rise by 10,115, an increase blamed on higher layoffs in construction and service industries. Layoffs were up by 8,870 in Michigan and 6,418 in Texas.

The states with the biggest decline in layoffs were New York, down by 26,764; North Carolina, down by 10,072 and Georgia, down by 8.987.

The state data is not adjusted for seasonal variations.

Corra never likes to see reports showing more people are out of work. That and the increase in house foreclosures is always a bit depressing. Corra, like the rest of you, hopes for a robust, well educated workforce that will help build the American economy well through the twenty-first century.

But then, there are more jobless. That’s always the downside. The upside of the equation is that you and your businesses have a wider selection of job candidates. Choose carefully, for some may have merely been downsized and others may have been dismissed for other reasons. Even if it was during the downsizing of a company that may have been an excuse to get rid of the deadwood, the substance abusers, sexual harassment idiots, and even the office thieves.

So be smart when you are hiring from the job pool and conduct preemployment background checks on everyone you hire. You should most definitely run a criminal report. If someone has access to your proprietary information, you would do well to run a credit report. A Social Security Trace will help determine if someone has a valid SSN number and is in fact a legitimate worker. With the government starting to crackdown on those who hire illegal workers, you don’t want to be its bad example.

So be smart, and as Corra always says, check them out before you hire.

By Gordon Basichis

Gordon Basichis is the Co-Founder of Corra Group, specializing in pre-employment background checks and corporate research. He has been a marketing and media executive and has worked in the entertainment industry, the financial, health care and technology sectors. He is the author of the best selling Beautiful Bad Girl, The Vicki Morgan Story, a non-fiction novel that helped define exotic sexuality in the late twentieth century. He is the author of the Constant Travellers and has recently completed a new book, The Guys Who Spied for China, dealing with Chinese Espionage in the United States. He has been a journalist for several newspapers and is a screenwriter and producer.