South DaCola

Editorial Cartoonist from South Dakota

Unemployment

Food SF School District Sioux Falls Unemployment

What was I telling you about the false hope of low unemployment?

l3wis 28Comments

nslp

“This sure beats the heck out of the Ramen noodles and cardboard sandwich I had for dinner last night.”

While Mayor Huether likes to brag about Building Permits and Low Unemployment, our cafeterias in our schools are turning into The Banquet;

Almost half the children in elementary school in Sioux Falls signed up for free or reduced lunch last year, an alarming jump of 5 percentage points and about double the rate of suburban districts.

(In 2012 there was approximately 23,000 students in SF. You are basically looking at about 11,000 students getting free or reduced lunches).

That can’t be right!? We have low unemployment and developers building like crazy. The fact is, that while businesses in our community are enjoying climbing out of this recession, they are not passing that good fortune unto their employees;

“It does seem like we’re seeing more million dollar-plus houses, and seeing more pressure on The Banquet, St. Francis House, rental housing assistance,” Nesiba said. “They’re growing simultaneously. It’s an interesting contradiction.”

Come on Professor Nesiba, don’t you believe in ‘trickle down economics’? If all these peeps in Sioux Falls are making so much money, shouldn’t it be coming our way? And here’s the kicker, stats I have been searching for;

For school board members, the increase in poverty figures shines a light on low wages in the region. South Dakota Division of Labor statistics show that half the workforce in the four-county Sioux Falls Metropolitan Area earns less than $15 an hour — about $31,000 per year.

Now think about that. It is about what I earn in a year. I’m single, have no debt (car paid for) and after refinancing my house, I pay about half for my mortgage compared to what friends of mine pay for rent for a two bedroom apartment. I invest about $200 a month, save about $200 a month and spend about $200 a month on entertainment (vices). Now take that wage and support a family of three on it. It’s ludicrous, and virtually impossible, especially with how high rent is in Sioux Falls;

The availability of affordable housing probably contributes to the poverty gap between the city and the suburbs, Nesiba said. Young people and families just starting out are more likely to live in the city, Nesiba said. “There is still a shortage of affordable housing in Sioux Falls, but there are more lower-income families that end up living here rather than in Tea, Brandon or in Lincoln County, because the jobs are here,” Nesiba added. “We have a very low unemployment rate, but there are so many people that are working lower-wage jobs, and a higher number of people working two or more jobs.”

This is why I have said over and over again, that I only support TIF’s for affordable housing, and smaller apartment owners that want to fix up their units. When we hand out TIF’s to luxury hotels, retail giants and condos, not only are we sending a bad message, we are taking money out of the county and school district’s coffers. You know, the guys who educate and protect our community.

Sioux Falls, and South Dakota is run amuck in corporate welfare, that not only takes away from public services, it offers NO accountability to the ones receiving it (a promise of better paying jobs – NOT more jobs). But when you have a former subprime credit card huckster running the city and Pierre looking more like Watergate every day, what do you expect?

Thune Unemployment

Out of work? Ironic Johnny doesn’t care (H/T- Helga)

l3wis 11Comments

This is the 8th time the Republicant’s have blocked a vote.  Big of them. Thune must be saying screw you to all the people who have been looking for a job for months and months and have found nothing.  I gather everyone in SoDak is employed and Thune and the others just don’t give a shit about anyone else.

And they say they are sick of the partisanship. They are indeed the party of NO.

Republicans kill Senate jobless aid measure

By ANDREW TAYLOR (AP) – 1 hour ago

WASHINGTON — Republicans in the Senate have defeated an election-year bill to continue weekly jobless benefits for millions of long-term unemployed workers.

The 57-41 loss was a major blow for President Barack Obama and Democrats. They needed three more votes — for a total of 60 — to stop a GOP filibuster.

The rejected bill would also have provided billions of dollars in new aid, protecting the jobs of tens of thousands of state and local government workers as the country begins to emerge from the worst recession in seven decades.

Democrats have been trying to advance the measure for months as an insurance policy against a double-dip recession.

Despite another round of cuts to the measure aimed at pacifying GOP deficit concerns, not a single Republican broke with party leaders determined to kill the measure for adding more than $30 billion to the deficit.

Sioux Falls Unemployment

Unemployment rising in Sioux Falls? No surprise.

l3wis 8Comments

I said it all along, just because the recession hit us late doesn’t mean it will leave early, in fact, I think it will take Sioux Falls longer to recover, just like in the 1990’s. But don’t take my word on it, just listen to Augustana economics professor Nesiba;

He said that one of the problems particular to Sioux Falls is not so much unemployment – which tends to be lower than in many parts of the country – but “persistently low wages.“

This has been a problem for a long, long time. Even when times are good, it seems business finds a way to keep wages low here.

“There are plenty of people in Sioux Falls that have multiple jobs,” Nesiba said. “Women with school-aged children here have high labor force participation rates. It isn’t because this is such a great place to work. It’s because two or three incomes are needed to get by.”

I can’t even remember in the 18 years I have lived in Sioux Falls that I did not have at least two jobs, at one time I even had four. For someone who is single, there really is no reason I should have to have two jobs to get by.

With a U.S. population of 300 million and a labor supply of about 150 million people, a 10 percent national unemployment rate means you have 15 million people out of work, Nesiba says.

“If you add in discouraged workers who have dropped off unemployment rolls or those who want more work, you get a number like 16 percent unemployment,” he said. “That’s a lot of people we need to put back to work.”

Those are the secret numbers that neither Washington, Pierre or SF City Hall want you to know about.

Nesiba said that even if the country could add 200,000 or 300,000 jobs per month – a rate not seen for a long time – a high unemployment rate is probable for years to come.

“I fear we’re going to have high and persistent unemployment for some time,” he said. “The advantage in South Dakota, and Sioux Falls in particular, is that we have lower unemployment than the rest of the nation. But the question is, how do we create higher living wages and jobs for middle-class people? I don’t see the leadership at the state or city level for that.“

That’s because the State’s and Sioux Falls’ motto has always been, “Business first, citizens second.” They are all bought and paid for. Just look at Pat Costello’s donor list. I hope Sioux Falls residents wake up and elect an honest fiscally conservative mayor and council for once.

Unemployment

Assmunch of the week, Senator Bunning (R-Ken)

l3wis 7Comments

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YM3gZ0hCKP8&feature=player_embedded[/youtube]

I object!

Sen. Jim Bunning continues to object to extending unemployment benefits. On Monday, the Kentucky Republican once again prevented a vote on a bill that would extend eligibility for enhanced unemployment benefits and subsidized health insurance for laid-off workers by 30 days.

If Congress fails to pass an extension, the National Employment Law Project estimates that 1.2 million people will lose their benefits in March. Bunning’s action could cause thousands of people to miss their unemployment checks starting this week, though it’s likely that Congress will pass an extension within the next two weeks that will retroactively cover their losses.

The video of him telling the reporter to get off his elevator is comical (see above). His baseball career below.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Alz5d1L0Ggs&feature=player_embedded[/youtube]

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