Page 8A
NATION
East Oregonian
Saturday, March 7, 2015
Why 5.5 percent
unemployment isn’t
as great as it seems
AP Photo/Perry Aycock
In this March 16, 1965 file photo, mounted state and county police officers ride their horses into a group of dem-
onstrators after they refused to disperse in Montgomery, Alabama.
Remembering Selma 50 years later
Associated Press
It only lasted minutes, but images
of sheriff’s deputies lobbing tear gas
and beating civil rights marchers with
batons and whips on March 7, 1965 en-
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segregation in the South.
50 years ago, Martin Luther King
Jr.’s Southern Christian Leadership
Conference began a series of marches
from Selma, Alabama to the state capi-
tal of Montgomery as part of a push for
black voting rights.
7KH ¿UVW RI WKH WKUHH PDUFKHV EH-
came known as “Bloody Sunday.” The
second came days later as King led pro-
testers on a march to the scene of the vi-
olence, but no further to avoid violating
the judge’s order. A third march — that
came with federal backing — began on
March 21 and made the 50-mile stretch
from Selma to Montgomery. That year,
Congress passed the Voting Rights Act,
which gave African-Americans the
right to vote.
AP Photo/File
In this March 7, 1965 file photo, state troopers use clubs against partici-
pants of a civil rights voting march in Selma. At foreground right, John
Lewis, chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, is
beaten by a state trooper. The day, which became known as “Bloody Sun-
day,” is widely credited for galvanizing the nation’s leaders and ultimately
yielded passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
AP Photo/File
In this March 7, 1965 file photo, S.W. Boynton is car-
ried and another injured man tended to after they were
injured when state police broke up a demonstration
march in Selma. Boynton, wife of a real estate and in-
surance man, has been a leader in civil rights efforts.
AP Photo/File
In this March 5, 1965 file photo, the mayor and his aux-
iliary police, armed with shotguns, rifles, pistols and
tear gas, form a roadblock at city limits to stop 150
African Americans from marching into town and the
courthouse in Camden, Ala.
Obama: Ferguson report exposed racially biased system
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP)
— The police situation in
Ferguson, Missouri, was
“oppressive and abusive,”
President Barack Obama said
Friday, as he prepared to com-
memorate a half-century since
the historic civil rights march-
es in Selma, Alabama.
“It turns out they weren’t
just making it up. This was
happening,” Obama said.
In his most expansive com-
ments yet about the Justice
Department’s report on racial
bias in Ferguson, Obama said
it was striking that investi-
gators merely had to look at
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said the City of Ferguson now
must make a decision about
how to move forward.
“Are they going to enter
into some sort of agreement
with the Justice Department
WR¿[ZKDWLVFOHDUO\DEURNHQ
and racially biased system?”
Obama said.
The Justice Department’s
report cleared Darren Wilson,
the white former Ferguson
SROLFHRI¿FHUZKRIDWDOO\VKRW
18-year-old Michael Brown,
who was black and unarmed,
while on duty in a St. Lou-
is suburb in August. But in
a separate report, federal in-
vestigators found patterns of
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and court practices within the
Ferguson Police Department.
Ferguson city leaders are to
meet with Justice Department
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to put forth an improvement
plan.
The president himself was
the subject of some of the racist
emails from Ferguson police
and municipal courts employ-
ees uncovered in the inves-
tigation. A 2008 email said
Obama would not be president
for long because “what black
man holds a steady job for four
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years,” while another depicted
Obama as a chimpanzee.
Although Obama said he
didn’t think what happened
in Ferguson was typical of the
rest of the country, he added
that it wasn’t an isolated inci-
dent, either.
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to work together to address
tensions between police and
communities without suc-
cumbing to cynical attitudes
that say “this is never going to
change, because everybody’s
racist.”
“That’s not a good solu-
tion,” Obama said. “That’s not
what the folks in Selma did.”
:$6+,1*721 $3 of adults working or looking
— Unemployment in the for work has fallen to a 37-
U.S. has dropped to a sev- year low of 62.8 percent. It
en-year low of 5.5 percent has hovered around the mark
— a level normally consid- for most of the past year.
ered the mark of a healthy
Economists
calculate
job market. Yet that number that about half that decline
isn’t as encouraging as it UHÀHFWVWKHDJLQJRIWKHSRS-
might sound.
ulation as the baby boom
While U.S. employers generation retires.
added a solid 295,000 jobs
But another factor is
in February, and the jobless that many Americans have
rate fell from 5.7 percent, it become discouraged about
went down mostly because their job prospects and have
many people gave up look- given up looking. Those out
ing for work and were no of work aren’t counted as
ORQJHU RI¿FLDOO\ FRXQWHG unemployed unless they are
as unemployed, the gov- actively looking for jobs.
ernment reported Friday.
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What’s more, wage gains ly lowered the rate since its
remained sluggish.
peak of 10 percent in Octo-
Those trends suggest that ber 2009.
the job market, while im-
Many economists also
proving rapidly, isn’t quite argue the economy can’t
as healthy as it looks.
be near full employment
That com-
if wages ar-
plicates the
en’t growing.
“5.5 percent
Federal Re-
And average
serve’s task doesn’t mean what hourly earn-
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ings rose just
it once did. (Full 3 cents to
out
when
the economy
employment) is $24.78 in Feb-
has strength-
ruary
from
ened enough always a moving the previous
to withstand target, and it has month.
higher interest
Megan
moved down.”
rates. The Fed
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is considering
economist at
— Diane Swonk,
a rate increase
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chief economist at
as early as
Financial Ser-
Mesirow Financial
June.
vices, noted
With Fri-
that hourly pay
day’s report, employers have fell in February from January
now produced 12 straight in the construction and min-
monthly job gains above LQJ LQGXVWULHV 6XFK ¿JXUHV
200,000. It’s the longest will outweigh the falling un-
such stretch since 1994-95.
employment rate in Fed chair
The U.S. is easily out- Janet Yellen’s mind, she said,
shining most other major and perhaps discourage a rate
economies. For example, the increase soon.
unemployment rate in the 19
The short-term interest
countries that share the euro rate is usually at 3 percent or
is 11.2 percent, or twice the 4 percent when the economy
U.S. rate.
is at full employment. It is
The robust U.S. job gains now at a record low of zero,
appear to have convinced DQG LQÀDWLRQ LV SUDFWLFDOO\
many investors that the Fed nonexistent.
will soon raise the short-
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term interest rate it controls. omist at TIAA-CREF, said
Investors on Friday sold that if unemployment keeps
ultra-safe U.S. Treasurys, a IDOOLQJDQGLQÀDWLRQVWDUWVWR
sign that many anticipate a pick up later this year, “the
rate increase. The yield on Fed will be behind the curve
the 10-year Treasury note if they haven’t already start-
rose to 2.24 percent from ed raising rates.”
2.11 percent.
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And they dumped stocks. Americans are earning
The Dow Jones industri- paychecks than 12 months
al average plummeted 276 ago. That has boosted U.S.
points in afternoon trading.
consumer spending and the
A 5.5 percent unemploy- broader global economy.
ment rate is typically consis- Many leading exporters,
tent with what economists SDUWLFXODUO\&KLQD*HUPDQ\
call “full employment” — and Japan, depend on Amer-
when the proportion of un- icans’ spending for a chunk
employed people has fallen of their growth.
so low that employers must
February’s hiring gains
UDLVH SD\ WR ¿QG HQRXJK were broad-based. Some of
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the industries with the big-
Companies then raise gest gains include mostly
prices to pay for the higher ORZSDLG ZRUN +RWHOV DQG
wages. And the Fed usually restaurants added 60,000
follows suit by raising its jobs, retailers 32,000.
benchmark short-term rate
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to cool growth and ward off also added jobs: Profession-
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al and business services,
%XWWKHVFDUVRIWKH*UHDW which include accountants,
Recession have made the engineers and lawyers,
process hazier and more gained 51,000, construction
complicated.
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“5.5 percent doesn’t vices 10,000.
mean what it once did,” said
*URZWKVORZHGLQWKH¿-
Diane Swonk, chief econo- nal three months of last year
mist at Mesirow Financial. to an annual rate of 2.2 per-
Full employment “is always cent after roaring ahead at
a moving target, and it has nearly 5 percent last spring
and summer. But consumer
moved down.”
Since the recession ended spending rose, a sign de-
in June 2009, the percentage mand remains strong.
Blue Mountain
Community College
Faculty Spotlight: Did You Know?
Jeremy Pike
BMCC Diesel Technologies Instructor
Jeremy
J
ere
e
has a degree in Ag Diesel Equipment Mechanics,
and
a
n
nd has worked for local diesel shops including Blue
Mountain
Helicopter, Wentland Diesel and the Ford
M
ou
Dealerships
D
e
ea
in Walla Walla and Pendleton in positions that
i included
n cl
maintenance and diagnostics. He spent the 8 years
prior
p
r rio to beginning at BMCC at Cummin’s Northwest in
Pendleton
where he worked as a Cummin’s Certified Master
P
e
en
Technician.
Jeremy began with BMCC during the Fall 2014
T e
ec
been an invaluable component to the program since. He
t e m and
term
ter
te
a nd has
s b
and teaching has come very naturally to him.
l loves
lov
o ves working on motors
m
Jeremy
Jer
eremy
emy
y and
a d his
an
h is wife Meghan have
ha two children, Laney and Ryder. He loves to spend time
with his family at the cabin
cabin, fish with
w his son and hunt.
Have you heard about the BMCC bond?
BMCC wants to continue to provide a high-quality education for students so they can
succeed like our many distinguished alumni! Check out the bond page on our website to
learn more about how BMCC could continue to provide an affordable education for family-
wage jobs, a safe and secure learning environment and protect the community’s
investment. Look for the bond on the May 19, 2015, ballot!
www.bluecc.edu/about-bmcc/bond-measure
BMCC is an equal opportunity employer and educator.