Amish Finally Cotton to Unemployment Checks

Columbus, Indiana, and Casper, Wyoming top employment list

(NEWSER) - Recession—that's a big-city thing, right? Several mid-size cities around the US are making an argument for their economic superiority, boasting job growth higher than the 1.5% national average in 2011. You may not know these cities well, but the Christian Science Monitor recommends them:

1. Columbus, Indiana: No, not Ohio's Columbus: Indiana's version had 10% growth from 2009 to 2010, making it the best economic rebounder during the Great Recession. Jobs are up 6.4%.

Rick Perry boasts of limited gov't, but numbers tell different story

(NEWSER) - Rick Perry likes to boast that Texas' leading jobs creation rate comes from limiting taxes and government interference, but in fact many of those jobs are thanks to Washington. And thanks in particular to the military and surging federal spending—along with $25-billion in federal stimulus —government jobs in Texas have grown at twice the rate of private-sector jobs since Perry became governor, reports the Washington Post . In fact, since the recession hit in late 2007, private-sector employment in Texas has actually declined 0.6%, while public-sector jobs have increased 6.4%. More»

They could expire at the end of November

(USER SUBMITTED) - A vote to extend federally funded unemployment benefits for three months failed to get enough support in the House today, meaning that current benefits could expire on November 30. The bill required a two-thirds vote to reauthorize funding and faced an uncertain future in the Senate had it passed, reports the Huffington Post . Congress currently grants up to 73 weeks of unemployment benefits after 26 weeks of state benefits run out. More»

Reach 500K mark as employers again cut back

(AP) - New applications for unemployment insurance reached the half-million mark last week for the first time since November, a sign that employers are likely cutting jobs again as the economy slows. The Labor Department said today that initial claims for jobless benefits rose by 12,000 last week to 500,000, the fourth increase in the past five weeks. Wall Street economists forecast that claims would drop. More»

Measure now goes to President Obama for his signature

(AP) - Congress has approved legislation to restore unemployment insurance to people who have been out of work for six months or more, ending a seven-week interruption that caused 2.5 million people to lose benefits averaging about $300 a week. The 272-152 House vote sends the measure to President Obama, who has promised to immediately sign it. More»