Recession Lexicon: 99er

99er n./ a person who has gone through all 99 weeks of unemployment benefits.

This is one of the sadder definitions in our recession glossary. According to a story in the New York Times several days ago, the Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that by June, 1.4 million people had been out of work for at least 99 weeks–the maximum time you can collect unemployment, even with all the extensions that Congress has tacked on to give people more of a safety net in tough times.

Let’s put that a different way: A population almost the size of Philadelphia has been out of work for nearly two years…

Economists Pessimistic About the Rest of 2010

From today’s New York Times:

Many economists — concerned about the sluggish pace of job creation, dwindling housing activity and decelerating retail sales — say that slowdown is continuing this summer and have recently downgraded their expectations for the second half of the year.

Read more here.

Stashing Cash Over the Border

Apparently, some people are still concerned about the stability of U.S. banks. In a recent article in the Wall Street Journal, cable titan John Malone, for one, noted that his wife had pulled all of her money out of American financial institutions and parked it in Australia and Canada.

“She wants to have a place to go if things blow up here,” he told the paper in an interview. “Canada has a lot more fiscal and bank responsibility than most places in the world and lots of natural resources. We have a retreat that’s right on the Quebec border. We own 18 miles on the border, so we can cross. Any time we want to, we can get away. It would probably be illegal, but we could go. Actually, our snowmobile trail goes right on the border.”

So far this year, the FDIC has seized about 100 banks. Maybe she’s on to something.

Senate Approves Unemployment Extension

If you care about this issue, you’ve probably heard that the US Senate voted 60-40 to keep emergency unemployment benefits going. Long story short: Good for jobless peeps, bad for the deficit.

Millions of people stopped getting checks in June when the program expired in June. According to the Washington Post: 8.7 million people were receiving jobless benefits at the end of June. A little more than half received state benefits, which are typically available for 26 weeks. The rest were receiving extended benefits financed by the federal government, which are due to run out soon unless the bill before the Senate passes. The Labor Department estimates that 2.5 million people had been cut off by the end of last week.

The House is expected to okay the bill this week…

Entrepreneurship is Declining, Survey Says

Start-up activity, which got a boost from the recession as millions of people looked for new work opportunities or rethought their careers, is on the slide. According to a new survey by executive outplacement firm Challenger, Gray and Christmas, 3.7 percent of job seekers were looking to start something up in the first half of 2010. That’s a big drop from the 7.6 percent in the first half of 2009. That’s a low point since 1986, when the company began tracking this stuff.

What gives? It could be that more people are getting jobs and…

Big Layoffs at Wells Fargo and Merck

Two major companies announced major changes today. San Francisco bank Wells Fargo is eliminating 3,800 jobs as part of a “restructuring”–a small number compared to the 278,000 who work for the company, but big for the people who will lose jobs. More than 638 independent consumer finance offices will be closed.

Meanwhile, pharma firm Merck is closing eight plans and eight research sites, including two outposts in the US. It’s canning a whopping 16,000…

Most Depressing–No, Recessing–Quote of the Week

From a Sunday New York Times story on how the economic recovery has slowed down in the U.S.:

“We may have seen the best of employment for some time,” said Paul Kasriel, chief economist at Northern Trust. “In general the economy is downshifting, maybe to stall speed, or just above stall.”

Ugh.

Government Layoffs Looming

Here’s some discouraging news about the direction of the economy: An economist predicts that up to 400,000 government workers could lose their jobs over the next year, because state and local governments will be laying off people en masse to close budget gaps.

According to a story in USA Today, New York City is planning 4,500 layoffs

Cheeky New Ways to Connect

Have you been displaced by the downturn? Finding it hard to meet new peeps?

Perhaps this scene is familiar: You’re in a coffee shop, i.e., your new office. You notice a delightful specimen across the room immersed in your favorite novel. Handing off a business card on the way to the loo feels a little douchey. So you do nothing. Pretty soon, Mr./Ms. Sexy has vanished.

Missed connections. Opportunities wasted…

The Dust Clears, Women Rise

At Recessionwire, we call it “She-orientation” — a powerful, society-wide shift in which women are coming to play an increasingly important role in determining our economic, cultural, and political path. The trend has become evident in recent discussions of how to get more women into corporate boardrooms.

It may be that more skirts on Wall Street would have prevented the financial crisis. The dominance of adrenaline-fueled males on the Street, some argue, creates an atmosphere with less restraint and circumspection than an Animal House-style frat party…