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Washington, D.C., United States (AHN) – Initial jobless claims rose for the week ending Jan. 22, reversing a decline in initial filings the week before that many observers had hoped signaled an improvement in the jobs picture.

Initial claims for unemployment compensation benefits rose by 51,000 to 454,000 last week, up from 403,000 the week before, the U.S. Department of Labor announced in a statement Thursday.

Although the number of Americans filing initial jobless claims often goes up and down on a weekly basis, the increase in claims was more than many economists had expected. Many observers had become optimistic after initial jobless claims dipped below 400,000 four weeks ago and had hoped the figures would stay below that threshold, but that did not happen.

Moreover, it looks unlikely that the jobs picture will improve much as many state governments announced plans to cut state workers. Georgia plans to cut 14,000 state jobs, New York plans to cut more than 10,000 workers and Texas lawmakers plan to cut 9,300 jobs.

The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending Jan. 15, the latest week such data is available, were Florida (+6,646) and Nevada (+242), while the largest decreases were in New York (-28,714), Georgia (-19,429), North Carolina (-16,132), Pennsylvania (-14,859) and California (-14,309), according to DOL.

The total number of Americans claiming benefits in all unemployment compensation programs for the week ending Jan. 8 was 9,410,977.

In addition, extended benefits were still available in 35 states and the District of Columbia. Those states were Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia and Wisconsin.

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Washington, D.C., United States (AHN) – There is an ongoing debate in the public domain about the religious symbols especially a “religious sword,” called a “Kirpan” that Sikh males are expected to carry after they are baptized in the Sikh religion.

The controversy started after a fourth grade student at Bentley Elementary school was found carrying a about four inch sword on his person and first the principal allowed the boy to carry it as it was blunt and dull edged and was a religious item, however the Plymouth-Canton Community Schools district later decided to ban the “Kirpan,” citing violation of local, state and federal policies against carrying weapons or items that look like weapons to school.

Since then, the Sikh bodies have jumped into fray and a few public meetings were held while the School District and the local Sikh population was striving to find a compromise over the issue.

In a written statement to the AHN, Kuldip Singh, President, United Sikhs stated, “Under the Michigan Constitution, any limitation to the free exercise of religion can only be met if a compelling governmental interest (highest threshold) is found and also if the least restrictive means are used.”

“Hence, an absolute prohibition on the kirpan would likely violate Michigan’s protection of religious freedom under the State Constitution because a complete ban would not be the least restrictive means,” Kuldip Singh added.

Earlier, Deputy Superintendent, Kenneth J. Jacobs, issued a memo that stated “until such time as a compromise is reached, any and all religious emblems that resemble a weapon are strictly prohibited.”

Looking forward to resolve the issue, the district authorities are planning on meeting the concerned Sikh community and Jacobs noted in his statement that the district valued “the right of all students to practice their religion and wear religious symbols.”

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Washington, D.C., United States (AHN) – Former Sen. Arlen Specter has joined the faculty of the University of Pennsylvania to teach law.

The 80-year-old lawmaker, whose Senate term officially ended on Monday, will begin his new career this fall. His course will focus on the relationship between Congress and the U.S. Supreme Court, specifically the separation of powers between the two branches and the confirmation process.

“Arlen’s knowledge of the inner workings of the government and lawmaking is second to none,” University of Pennsylvania Law School Dean Michael Fitts said in a statement. “The insight he brings from his career in public service, particularly as a leader on judicial issues, will be invaluable to our students as they prepare for their own careers in the law.”

“Teaching at Penn Law will be a fantastic opportunity to join an outstanding community of scholars, continue my work in public policy and the law, and impact the next generation of lawyers and policy makers,” Specter said.

Specter earned his bachelor’s degree from the university in 1951 and later graduated from Yale Law School. He lost his bid for a sixth term during the Democratic primary in May last year to former Rep. Joe Sestak (D-PA), who lost the general election to a Republican.

A centrist, Specter left the Republican Party less than a month before the Democratic primary, citing a rightward shift in the GOP’s agenda. He had been under fire from conservatives for his support for several Obama administration bills, particularly the economic stimulus package.

His switch to the Democratic Party cost him his ranking position in the Judiciary Committee, which approved presidential appointments for the Supreme Court and for which he served as chairman during the Bush administration.

Specter was a Democrat in his early political life, working for the Warren Commission as assistant counsel in its investigation of the assassination of John F. Kennedy. He used his farewell speech on the Senate floor to inveigh against what he said was increased partisanship in Congress.

” ‘Compromise’ has become a dirty word,” he said. “Senators insist on ideological purity as a precondition… President Reagan’s ‘big tent’ has frequently been abandoned by the Republican Party. A single vote out of thousands cast can cost an incumbent his seat. “

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Washington, D.C., United States (AHN) – A national report finds that more than 1 in 5 recent high school graduates across the country failed to score enough points on a military test to meet the Army’s minimum standards for enlistment.

The Education Trust compiled the report and outlined that twenty-three percent of those who took the test failed to achieve a qualifying score on the basic math and reading portions of the Armed Services vocational Aptitude Battery.

Some states stood out with large percentages testers who failed. Hawaii, Louisiana and Mississippi all had more than 30 percent of applicants scored too low to be able to enlist. In Idaho, Indiana, Nebraska, New Hampshire and Wyoming, less than 15 percent did.

“Too many of us, including educators, have comforted ourselves with the notion that kids who aren’t ready for college can find a place in the armed services. These findings shatter that myth and strip away the illusion of opportunity available to undeprepared students,” Ed Trust president Kati Haycock.

He went on to say, “Our economy, our democracy and our national security demand much more than our schools are delivering now.”

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Washington, D.C., United States (AHN) – New claims for unemployment compensation dropped to 421,000 for the week ending Dec. 4, a decrease of 17,000 claims from the week before, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.

Not all jobless workers are insured by the unemployment compensation program. The advance seasonally adjusted rate of insured unemployed workers was 3.2 percent for the week ending Nov. 27, which was a decrease of 0.2 percentage point from the prior week’s unrevised rate of 3.4 percent, the DOL said in a statement.

The DOL also released the figures for the week ending Nov. 27 for the advance number of seasonally adjusted insured unemployment, which was 4,086,000. That was a decrease of 191,000 from the preceding week’s revised number of 4,277,000 insured unemployed.

Advance unadjusted figures for the week ending Nov. 27 showed the percentage of unemployed workers eligible for unemployment compensation was 3.3 percent. However, the unemployment rate during that week was 9.6 percent.

Figures for the number of unemployed Americans claiming benefits under all unemployment compensation programs was from a week earlier, or the week ending Nov. 13 was 8,297,938.

Extended unemployment compensation benefits, for jobless Americans who are covered by that insurance program, were available in 35 states and the District of Columbia for the week ending Nov. 20.

Those states were Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia and Wisconsin.

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Washington, D.C., United States (AHN) – The Supreme Court agreed Monday to hear a sex discrimination lawsuit against Wal-Mart that claims billions of dollars of back pay and damages on behalf of female employees.

The lawsuit joins the claims of 1.5 million women who worked at the retail giant in the past decade, making it the biggest employment-related class action in U.S. history.

The women say they were paid at lower rates than men and often were denied promotions.

Wal-Mart argues the lawsuits cannot be combined into a class action because personnel decisions are made at each of its 3,400 stores, meaning there was no centralized pattern of gender-based bias.

The significance of the class action status could reach far beyond Wal-Mart.

A single lawsuit representing hundreds to thousands of employees could drive up the amount of damages employers must pay, according to legal analysts. As a result, corporations would be more likely to settle lawsuits with large payments rather than letting juries decide.

“The current confusion in class-action law is harmful for everyone – employers, employees, businesses of all types and sizes and the civil justice system. These are exceedingly important issues that reach far beyond this particular case,” Wal-Mart said in a statement Monday.

The Supreme Court, which plans to hear oral arguments in the case in the spring, will decide whether the women’s lawsuits can be consolidated into a class action but will not rule on whether they were treated unfairly as employees.

A brief filed by attorneys for the female employees denies that Wal-Mart leaves all its personnel decisions to individual store managers.

“The class is large because Wal-Mart is the nation’s largest employer and manages its operations and employment practices in a highly uniform and centralized manner,” the brief says.

The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco already has ruled the women’s lawsuits could be a class action. Wal-Mart appealed to the Supreme Court.

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Washington, D.C., United States (AHN) – Increased productivity by American workers pushed down labor costs for employers in the third quarter, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).

Labor cost reductions from employers squeezing more productivity from workers signals that inflation should stay low.

Worker costs fell for the fifth time in the past seven quarters as employee output per hour increased at a 1.9 percent annual rate.

Decreased costs from increased worker productivity will help companies boost profits for the year.

The BLS in a statement explained that “labor productivity, or output per hour, is calculated by dividing an index of real output by an index of hours worked by all persons, including employees, proprietors, and unpaid family workers.”

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Washington, D.C., United States (AHN) – Initial claims for jobless benefits dropped slightly while continuing unemployment compensation claims dipped below 4.4 million, the United States Labor Department announced Thursday.

New claims for unemployment compensation fell by 21,000 to 434,000 for the week ending Oct. 23 down from 455,000 the week before. It was the lowest number of new claims since July.

The unemployment rate among workers eligible to receive unemployment benefits held steady at 3.5 percent. The overall unemployment rate for all workers is 9.7 percent.

Economists had expected 458,000 new jobless claims. Although the lower numbers were encouraging, economists warned that other labor-market readings indicate the economy has not yet turned the corner.

In the meantime, the news gave stocks a brief boost when the markets opened on Thursday. However, the rally soon fizzled as stock prices edged downward on mixed corporate earnings reports.

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Washington, D.C., United States (AHN) – Initial jobless claims unexpectedly rose last week by 13,000 to a seasonally adjusted 462,000, the U.S. Labor Department said Thursday.

Economists were expecting only 450,000 Americans to file first time unemployment claims. Americans filed 449,000 first-time claims the previous week.

Although the economy is viewed as being in recovery, the continued loss of jobs indicates a continued bumpy road for America’s working class.

Some 4.399 million people continued to file unemployment claims for their second week or more, during the week ended Oct. 2, the latest week for which such statistics are available.

In addition, extended jobless benefits were available in 36 states and Puerto Rico during the week ending Sept. 25, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.

Those states were Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, and Wisconsin.

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Washington, D.C., United States (AHN) – The new U.S. Religious Knowledge Survey, finds that although 86% of Americans believe in God or a higher power, many unfortunately do not know their own religious traditions or those of their neighbors. Among 3,412 adults surveyed, only 2% correctly answered at least 29 of 32 questions on the Bible, major religious figures, beliefs and practices. The average score was 16 correct (50%).

Alan Cooperman, associate director for research at the Pew Forum that conducted the survey, explained the reason for such a surprising and ironic result in that American atheists and agnostics tend to be people who grew up in a religious tradition but consciously gave it up, often after a great deal of reflection and study.

“These are people who thought a lot about religion,” he said. “They’re not indifferent. They care about it.”

It was also observed that Atheists and agnostics tend to be well educated, and the most knowledgeable who outperformed believers in the survey questions; believers who had a similar level of education.

The Rev. Adam Hamilton, a Methodist minister from Leawood , Kan. , and the author of “When Christians Get it Wrong,” further observed that, “I think that what happens for many Christians is, they accept their particular faith, they accept it to be true and they stop examining it. Consequently, because it’s already accepted to be true, they don’t examine other people’s faiths… That, I think, is not healthy for a person of any faith.”

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