http://www.flickr.com/photos/labor2008/ / CC BY 2.0

BY KELLEN M. HENRY– MEDILL REPORTS

The unemployment see-saw continues amid uncertainty about when Americans will head back to work, a U.S. Department of Labor report indicated Thursday.

Last week, the number of people filing for unemployment claims rose, while the total number of people filing ongoing [...]

Unemployment self-portrait by Diego Cupolo/Flickr.com

BY KATIE ROGERS – MEDILL NEWS SERVICE

On the heels of Tuesday reports indicating green shoots in the Chicago area housing market, and the Fed’s Beige Book Wednesday suggesting a slightly more optimistic economic outlook, The Bureau of Labor Statistics released a bleaker [...]

BY JORDAN MELNICK–MEDILL NEWS SERVICE

PIMCO’s managing director Bill Gross, called the nation’s most prominent bond investor, made a grim forecast for the U.S. economy Wednesday. In “Investment Potions” he says that nominal GDP is on track to stabilize at 3 [...]

The Fed predicts unemployment will stay above 8 percent through 2011

BY JORDAN MELNICK — MEDILL NEWS SERVICE

Here’s a variation on an old favorite: If an economy climbs out of recession and nobody gets a job, does it make a difference? This spin of Berkeley’s enigmatic query arises from the Fed’s [...]

(BWR/FLICKR)

BY DEB WEINSTEIN – MEDILL NEWS SERVICE

The future isn’t quite here, but Mesirow Financial’s Chief Economist and Senior Managing Director Diane C. Swonk says what it will look like is coming into focus. In [...]

Do you know what a "zombie bank" is? Do you care? (Laughing Squid/FLICKR)

BY KATE SHELLNUTT – MEDILL NEWS SERVICE

Not only do we have to deal with the bad economy, we also have to listen to the (silly) contemporary catchphrases the recession brings.

Bloggers more savvy than I have been all over hybrid words [...]

The nation has been under a pressure of the highest unemployment rate since late 1983. (http://philsbackupsite.wordpress.com/)

BY MING ZHUANG - MEDILL NEWS SERVICE

With the deepening economic downturn, more non-U.S. citizen job hunters feel stressed out about finding a position with a valid status, which would allow them to remain in the U.S. legally.

According [...]

There is hope for the jobless, according to a survey released by CareerBuilder. (khalilshah/FLICKR)

BY LESLIE PATTON – MEDILL NEWS SERVICE

The latest read on the number of new people signing up for unemployment benefits provides some evidence that the job market’s downward spiral may be slowing, according to a [...]

Online calculators and quizzes, like this one at frontdoor.com, may offer assistance to overwhelmed buyers.

BY KATE SHELLNUTT – MEDILL NEWS SERVICE

Across the country, home prices are continuing their freefall (here in Chicago, they dropped 16 percent in 2008, according to the latest Case-Shiller Index report) and unsold properties remain [...]

The recreational vehicle industry continues to drive unemployment up in Indiana's Elkhart-Goshen region. (zsafwan/FLICKR)

BY LESLIE PATTON – MEDILL NEWS SERVICE

Private sector jobs plummeted by 742,000 in March, according to the National Employment Report released Wednesday by Automatic Data Processing. Medium-sized businesses, those with 50-499 employees, [...]