Economy gains 54,100 Jobs in 2022 state unemployment rate is holding steady at just 2.6%
On Monday, Gov. Kay Ivey announced that Alabama’s preliminary, seasonally adjusted January unemployment rate is just 2.6%. That is unchanged from December 2022’s revised rate and January 2022’s rate. Only 58,411 persons qualify as unemployed persons under the government’s definition. That is down from 59,986 in December and 60,270 in January 2022. “I’m proud to kick off 2023 with a continuation of Alabama’s unemployment rate holding steady,” said Gov. Ivey. “We have been enjoying a period of low unemployment, high wages, and high jobs count for some time now, and I believe that more is yet to come. We will not back down on our commitment to continue to bring quality, high-paying jobs to Alabama.” Over the year, wage and salary employment increased by 54,100 jobs, with notable gains in the manufacturing sector (+10,400), the professional and business services sector (+8,700), and the private education and health services sector (+7,500), among others. “Additionally, we’re continuing to see positive increases in our wages, meaning more money in Alabamians’ pockets,” said Alabama Department of Labor Secretary Fitzgerald Washington. “This month, we reached one of our highest average weekly wages in history.” Total private wages increased by $30.12/weekly over the year to $1,008.61 in January. This marks the third-highest weekly wages in history. The Alabama counties with the lowest unemployment rates are Shelby County at just 1.8%, Morgan County at 2.0%, and Marshall, Madison, Limestone, and Cullman Counties at 2.1%. The counties with the highest unemployment rates are Wilcox County at 8.8%, Clarke County at 5.9%, and Dallas County at 5.4%. The major cities with the lowest unemployment rates are Homewood at 1.6%, Madison at 1.7%, and Alabaster, Trussville, and Vestavia Hills at 1.8%. The major cities with the highest unemployment rates are Selma at 6.4%, Prichard at 5.2%, and Bessemer at 4.2%. Selma was hard hit by a tornado that devastated much of the town in January. The Alabama labor force’s total size increased to 2,284,792 from 2,283,890 in December and 2,278,519 in January 2022. The national unemployment rate dropped to 3.4% in January – down from 3.5% in December and 4.0% in January 2022. The 3.4% national rate is the lowest in 50 years. The Alabama Labor Force Participation Rate actually dropped throughout 2022 to 56.7%. This is down from 56.9% in Jan. 2022. The U.S. Labor Force Participation Rate is 62.4%. That is up slightly from 62.3% in December and 62.2% in Jan. 2022. The historically low labor participation rate concerns some economists. Dr. Samuel Gregg is a distinguished fellow at the American Institute for Economic Research. “THIS is the employment number that should concern Americans: our abysmal labor participation rate,” said Dr. Gregg. “Some Americans have stopped looking OR decided that they don’t want to work OR cobbled together enough forms of welfare rather than work.” While many older Americans who were sent home due to the COVID-19 shutdowns simply retired, there is a large number of younger persons who either dropped out of the workforce or finished school and never entered the workforce. Rachel Greszler is a senior research fellow at The Heritage Foundation and a former senior economist at the Joint Economic Committee of Congress. “The troubling part is, what does this mean for the future of the workforce?” Greszler told FOX Business. “When you talk about people who are kind of displaced from the education or worker experience routes that they otherwise would have gone into, and instead just kind of been idle at home — living with mom and dad or maybe in a group setting and just able to live off welfare benefits — they’re not getting the experience and the education they need. So I think it’s really troubling going forward that we could see this have a more longer-term impact.” The February employment numbers are expected to be released sometime this week. To connect with the author of this story or to comment, email brandonmreporter@gmail.com
Taxpayers could experience major refund delays this year from backlogged IRS
Americans around the country will begin filing their income taxes as the filing period opened this week, but many could experience major delays from the Internal Revenue Service, which still has millions of unprocessed returns from last year. The IRS warned Americans this week with an “urgent reminder” to file electronically “to help speed refunds.” The IRS cited “several critical tax law changes that took place in 2021 and ongoing challenges related to the pandemic” for the delays. Americans hoping to receive tax refunds also could see delays, especially if they do not file electronically. “None of this is new, with the IRS admitting last year that returns which previously took three weeks to process were taking up to four months,” tax expert at the American Enterprise Institute Matt Weidinger wrote. “….Record child tax credit payments are pending in the coming tax season, payable to a record number of recipients, even without the passage of further legislation.” Some have argued the IRS needs more funding to handle the returns, but others point out that the shift toward e-filing should have more than lifted the load for the federal tax-collecting agency. “In the 1980s, the IRS was processing paper returns, today 81% of returns are e-filed. With the technology and tools available today, the IRS should be far more efficient,” Heritage Foundation economic and tax experts Rachel Greszler and Preston Brashers said in a joint statement. The National Taxpayer Advocate released its federally commissioned report in mid-December, which said the IRS had 6.2 million unprocessed individual returns, 2.8 million unprocessed business returns, 2.4 million unprocessed amended individual returns, as well as 427,000 amended business returns. For those corresponding with the IRS, their messages are awaiting processing along with 4.75 million pieces of correspondence from taxpayers around the country. “The IRS is in crisis and needs to apply resources to its core mission – processing returns and paying the corresponding refunds,” the group said. Another factor for the backlogs is that Congress expanded the IRS’ power and responsibilities significantly in recent months. That expansion included a monthly child tax credit program that handed out funds to millions of American families based on income and the number of children they have. Critics say this expansion, and the ensuing backlogs, are evidence the IRS has gone beyond its bounds. “As part of the American Rescue Plan, during 2021, the IRS issued monthly checks to the families of roughly 60 million children,” Greszler and Brashers said. “More generally, Congress has continued to expand ‘refundable’ tax credits, payments from the IRS to individuals who pay no income tax. Because they offer checks in the mail, refundable tax credit programs are rife with fraud, as well as improper payments through no fault of the recipient. These programs are extremely costly to implement while ensuring checks are going out to whom they were intended. If Congress wants to eliminate backlogs going forward, it should focus on simplifying the tax code, and it should stop expanding the scope of what the IRS does.” The backlogs are fueling Congressional Republicans, who have been demanding answers from the Biden administration for months on mismanaged and wasted tax dollars. Republicans sent letters to the IRS in April and November last year, pressing these same questions. Members sent a letter again in December raising questions about the backlog. “This massive backlog is causing significant and unnecessary burdens for families and small businesses who can’t get answers from the IRS about why their returns have not been processed,” the letter said. “The IRS is in danger of falling into a vicious backlog cycle that will harm millions of taxpayers. “As the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) prepares for the 2022 tax filing season, we write with great concern regarding the backlog of unprocessed returns from the current 2021 and 2020 filing seasons,” the letter adds. By Casey Harper | The Center Square Republished with the permission of The Center Square.
