Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Janet Napolitano this week designated 11 new countries as eligible to participate in the H-2A and H-2B nonimmigrant visa programs, which allow U.S. employers to bring foreign nationals to the United States to fill temporary or seasonal jobs for which U.S. workers are not available.

The unemployed number 15.4 million. The jobless rate is 10 percent. More than 7 million jobs have vanished. People out of work at least six months number a record 5.9 million. And household income, adjusted for inflation, has shrunk in the past decade.

Most economists say it could take at least until 2015 for the unemployment rate to drop down to a historically more normal 5.5 percent. And with the job market likely to stay weak, some also foresee another decade of wage stagnation.

Several black legislators say Obama must do more for recession-stricken minorities.

Some 15.6% of blacks nationwide are out of work, compared with the overall 10% unemployment rate.

Demand for H-1B visas has accelerated over the last six to eight weeks after being flat for months. This comes as the number of companies planning to increase college hiring is also on the rise. Together, the trends may be early indicators of an improving economy for skilled professionals.

The recession has compounded a decades-long problem for black workers, who began the downturn facing a far higher jobless rate than the general population and have fared worse since.
< Now experts are worried that many blacks will remain in crisis even as the economy begins to recover, largely because the recession has eliminated so many working-class jobs in sectors like manufacturing and retail that are likely to come back slowly, if at all.

With unemployment among blacks at more than 15 percent, the N.A.A.C.P. will join several other groups on Tuesday to call on President Obama to do more to create jobs.

The organizations — including the A.F.L.-C.I.O. and the National Council of La Raza, a Hispanic advocacy group— will make clear that they believe the president’s $787 billion stimulus program has not gone far enough to fight unemployment.

Sandi Zirbel has seen an influx of immigrants on dairy farms in Wisconsin firsthand.

As the co-owner of a 635-cow dairy cooperative in the town of Glenmore, Zirbel said immigrants frequently come looking for work.

As many as 19 out of 20 people who apply to work at the farm are immigrants. Two-thirds of those applications get tossed.

The cold fact, however, is that this deep recession is hitting African-Americans more severely than the overall population, due largely to the staggering levels of unemployment for this segment of the population.

When October unemployment data come out Friday, the nation's seasonally adjusted rate is expected to nudge upward, close to 10 percent. But among African-Americans, the jobless rate was 15.5 percent in September. In Illinois, the black unemployment rate was closer to 18.6 percent in the third quarter, according to estimates by the Economic Policy Institute.

For black teens nationwide, the rate was 40.8 percent in September.

For every open construction job in America, there are more than 20 people lining up to apply.

Few statistics illustrate the gravity of the U.S. recession as clearly as the yawning gap between job seekers and vacancies, highlighting the struggle President Barack Obama has had to contain job losses since he took over in January.

Research by Andrew Sum, a labor economist at Boston's Northeastern University, shows that the ratio of unemployed persons to job openings has widened in America to 5.7 to 1 in August of this year from 1.2 to 1 in December of 2000.

Job seekers filed 10,000 applications over three days with General electric for 90 openings paying about $27,000 a year building washing machines, General Electric spokeswoman Kim Freeman said Thursday.

GE advertised the jobs Sunday, and began accepting applications and resumes solely via a company website Monday. Wednesday was the deadline, she said.

When asked about what governments should do to address illegal immigration, 83% of respondents supported stronger border controls, 74% supported cracking down on employers, and 68% supported deportation.

Twenty-six of respondents are angry over immigration policy in the United States.

Sixty-two percent say gaining control of the borders is more important than legalizing the status of undocumented workers.

Overall Unemployment Rate

10.0%

 

Unemployment Rate among Black Americans

15.6%

 

Unemployment Rate among Hispanics

12.7%

 

Unemployment Rate among Teenagers

26.7%

 

U-6 Unemployment Rate

(includes unemployed Americans, those who have settled for part-time work, and those who have given up their job search altogether)
17.2%

 

Total Jobs lost in November, 2009

11,000

Overall Unemployment Rate

10.2%

 

Unemployment Rate among Black Americans

15.7%

 

Unemployment Rate among Hispanics

13.1%

 

Unemployment Rate among Teenagers

27.6%

 

U-6 Unemployment Rate

(includes unemployed Americans, those who have settled for part-time work, and those who have given up their job search altogether)
17.5%

 

Total Jobs lost in October, 2009

190,000