Unemployment Rate Hits 9.7%
data-slot="/21868623726/site264.tmus/amp2" data-multi-size="320x50,300x250" data-multi-size-validation="false" rtc-config='{"vendors": {"prebidappnexuspsp": {"PLACEMENT_ID": "27198239"}}, "timeoutMillis": 500}'>Employers cut back payrolls more than expected in August, according to unemployment numbers released by the Department of Labor Friday. The jobless rate rose to 9.7% last month– the highest since 1983 — as companies slashed 216,000 jobs, after cutting 225,000 jobs in July.
A 15% unemployment rate for African Americans in August brought an end to a three-month downward trend. Blacks are still hit hard by the volatile economy, with unemployment almost 4 ½ percentage points higher, year-over-year.
“It’s still likely that the unemployment rate will continue to increase until next year,†says Algernon Austin, director of the race, ethnicity, and economy program at the Economic Policy Institute. While some economists say the Obama administration’s $787 billion economic stimulus package has helped to slash unemployment numbers, it still may not be enough.
“[The stimulus] is working, but the problem is far worse than the administration realized,†Austin says.
Of the five million workers that have been unemployed for at least six months, African Americans make up a disproportionate number of those facing long-term unemployment, according to the Economic Policy Institute (EPI).
In August, manufacturing employment continued to trend downward, with a decline of 63,000. The construction industry lost 65,000 jobs. Financial activities shed 28,000 jobs in August, with declines spread throughout the industry. Factories cut 63,000, while retailers slashed 9,600 positions. Employment in health care continued to rise in August adding 28,000. Overall there were 14.9 million unemployed in August.
–Renita Burns
GlobalHue Joins Peebles’ Queens Aqueduct Project
GlobalHue (No. 1 on the B.E. Advertising Agencies list with $379.5 million in billings) has been named as the lead marketing firm for the proposed MGM Grand at Aqueduct in Queens, New York, announced R. Donahue Peebles, the lead developer in the team vying for the right to build New York City’s first gaming venue.
“We are excited about the opportunity to apply our strategic thinking, innovative tactics, brilliant creative skills, and significant experience with the MGM Grand brand to ensure the success of the MGM Grand at Aqueduct,†said Global Hue Chairman and CEO Don Coleman in a statement. “Much of GlobalHue’s success comes from the firm’s diverse make up, which is a perfect complement to the diversity of the Peebles-led team.â€
The team also includes MGM Mirage as opera
tor of the facility, Perini Building Co., and Harbinger Capital Partners.The addition of GlobalHue is the latest step taken by Peebles, CEO of The Peebles Corp. (No. 79 on the B.E. Industrial/Service 100 list with $51.4 million in revenues) in a process that has had its share of setbacks. In May, plans stalled amid reports that Delaware North Cos., the company’s partner, couldn’t raise the $370 million necessary to get the project off the ground.
According to news reports, New York Gov. David Paterson will be naming the aqueduct gaming operator within the next two weeks. Other than Peebles Development, five companies have bid on the 30-year contract to operate the gaming facility, including Penn National Gaming and SL Green Realty Trust (with Hard Rock Entertainment), a company in which its investors include Caribbean CAGE L.L.C., owned by Bob Johnson’s RLJ Companies.
The MGM Grand at Aqueduct complex will include a gaming facility with 4,500 video lottery terminals, an upscale, full-service hotel, a business conference center, an event center, and dining facilities. It will create nearly 4,000 construction and permanent jobs and produce approximately $17 billion in revenue for the State of New York and $5 billion for support of the horse racing industry over the initial 30 years.
–Janell Hazelwood
Black Contractors Get Shut Out
Minority contractors are being left out of federally funded highway projects, according to contracting data from the National Black Chamber of Congress (NBCC). For the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, 2008, state-run highway departments received more than $29 billion annually for construction, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation, and only 1.1% of that was spent with black-owned firms.
Thirteen states (Alaska, Arizona, Hawaii, Idaho, Maine, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oregon, Vermont and Wyoming) did no business with black firms, according to the data which the U.S. Department of Transportation provided to the NBCC. California, which has a 54% minority population and received $2.3 billion, contracted only one-tenth of 1% with black contractors. New York and Texas contracted 0.5% and 1% to black contractors, respectively. Only the District of Columbia posted a strong track record with 15% black participation.
The NBCC says that the number of contractors hired should represent the population of blacks nationally, which is 14%.
–Marcia Wade Talbert