Good News on the Economy – Weekly Jobless Claims Lowest in Four Years!

Dear Commons Community,

The number of people seeking unemployment benefits fell to the lowest point in almost four years last week.  Weekly applications for unemployment benefits dropped 13,000 to a seasonally adjusted 348,000.  It was the fourth drop in five weeks and the fewest number of claims since March 2008 – six months before Lehman Brothers collapsed and only a few months into the Great Recession.  The Huffington Post is also reporting that:

“The four-week average for unemployment claims fell for the fifth straight week to 365,250. The average has fallen nearly 13 percent in the past year.

The consistent decline indicates that companies are laying off fewer workers, and hiring is likely picking up further. When applications drop consistently below 375,000, it usually signals that hiring is strong enough to lower the unemployment rate…

In January, the economy added a net 243,000 jobs, the most in nine months. And the unemployment rate dropped for the fifth straight month, to 8.3 percent. The economy has added an average of 201,000 jobs per month for the past three months.

Faster economic growth is spurring the additional hiring. The economy expanded at an annual rate of 2.8 percent in the final three months of last year – a full percentage point higher than in the previous quarter.  Factory output also got off to a robust start this year, and it ended 2011 with the fastest growth in five years, the Federal Reserve said Wednesday.”

This is all very good news and a sign that the economy is improving and people can find jobs to support themselves and their families.

Tony

 

Teachers and City to Agree on an Evaluation System??

Dear Commons Community,

A much debated issue involving teacher evaluations in New York State appears headed for a settlement.  The New York Daily News is reporting that an agreement has been reached by the NYS Education Department and the state teachers’ unions that compromises on the controversial issue of using standardized test scores for evaluating teacher performance.  Specifically:

“the latest deal-making zeroed in on basing 20% of a teacher’s rating on student growth on standardized tests.

The same standardized tests could account for another 20% of a teacher’s grade — or be based on criteria other than student growth, such as academic progress made by specific groups like minority-group students or the poor. That component would be negotiated by local districts and teachers unions.”

The teachers unions especially here in New York City have been the target of all types of criticism for their unwillingness to compromise on how teachers are evaluated and whether they can be dismissed for poor performance.  Most of the media as well as the political “right” have sided against the teachers and have engaged in “teacher bashing”.  The Daily News article mentions that Governor Andrew Cuomo has been threatening to join the deliberations because of the “toxic” environment between the New York City Department of Education and the teachers’ union.  Toxic indeed and part of the blame has to be laid on Mayor Michael Bloomberg and former chancellor Joel Klein, both of whom engaged in teacher bashing.  It is my opinion that the current chancellor, Dennis Walcott has been much more civil in his relations with the teacher union.

For the sake of the children of New York City, let’s hope that an agreement has been reached.

Tony

P.S.  Nicholas Kristoph has an excellent opinion piece in today’s New York Times on a “breakthrough experiment” in New Haven, Connecticut involving cooperation between the city and its teachers’ union.