Small tale from the current econmomy:

My firm put everyone on furlough last week.

To complete state unemployment requirements I had to go to the state employment office for testing, assesment, and guidance.

The woman assigned to "guide" me after testing spoke such thickly accented English (east of Suez) that I asked to repeat her question twice. The question: Which is your first name and which is your last name?

My name is a little tougher than say, Tom Smith, but not by much.

Methinks that the state had a different set of priorities when they hired the woman - one with demographic goals rather than job related skills.

Weather was Christina Romer’s job slump excuse last winter. I hope she is enjoying her return to academia.

January storms this year didn’t stop people from shopping.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110203/ap_on_bi_go_ec_fi/us_retail_sales

If payroll jobs growth was a post-recession 200,000 plus per month norm, any weather impact would be barely noticeable.

Weather typically has very little impact in the current month because BLS’s monthly payroll employment report counts workers as employed no matter how few hours they work in a pay period (which is 2 weeks or longer for about half of all workers). Also, any employee who is paid is counted, whether that employee actually worked or not.

There is typically a bounce the month or so after major weather events (hurricanes) or natural disasters (earthquakes), due more than anything else to contracts being let and employees hired for cleanup and repair. And within another month or two those jobs disappear.

Shoveling snow is a job, right? I always got paid when it wasn't for my folks.

Is it climate change, or Man-Made Global Warming (MMGW, trademarked)?

We need some MMGW in New Mexico right now.

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20110204/D9L5RP6G1.html