Employment Numbers Continue to Rise
COLLINS: What a difference a day makes. Look at the radar. Just a few storms lingering now over north Florida. Seems to be time to dry out, it could be days, though, before some people in Tallahassee are able to see their front yards again. This is what happens when so much rain falls in such a short time. They are also cleaning up in places like Lacy Springs, Alabama. An unconfirmed tornado uprooted trees and damaged the trailer park there. Fortunately, nobody was hurt. Our Reynolds Wolf keeping a watch in the Weather Center.</s>ANNOUNCER: Live in the CNN NEWSROOM, Heidi Collins.</s>COLLINS: Well, the grim predictions were true, unfortunately. The White House expected a jump in unemployment numbers. In just about an hour ago, we saw just how bad those numbers really are. We are covering this story from all angles. A hearing on the job losses just getting under way on Capitol Hill and personal finance editor Gerri Willis joins with help for people who have actually lost their jobs. There are a lot of them out there. But first, Susan Lisovicz is at the New York Stock Exchange now with a look at how Wall Street is set to react to that jobs report and a check of the rest of the day's business headlines. Hey there, Susan. Listen, I'm happy if we go back to yesterday on the Dow, huh?</s>SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right. I mean there's a couple of things. One is that, you know, these numbers are terrible, Heidi.</s>COLLINS: Yes.</s>LISOVICZ: Six hundred and sixty-three thousand jobs were lost last month. The unemployment rate jumping to 8.5 percent. A 25-year high. But Wall Street expected those numbers. They basically came in line. And there was a fear because of earlier numbers on the labor markets earlier this week, Heidi, that those numbers could come in worse. So, in a sense, it's kind of a relief.</s>COLLINS: Yes.</s>LISOVICZ: Because we've had so many bombshells over the past year. Having said, that we are expecting a mild sell-off at the open but, as you mentioned, yesterday and the day before that and the day before that, were nice gains. And NASDAQ, Heidi, is positive for the year as a result of this week's rallies. But yes, at the open, we're expecting a little bit of a pull back. And as we talk about job losses, let's talk about mortgage delinquencies. They are growing. Federal regulators say mortgages that were current at the end of last year dipped below 90 percent for the first time in decades. Prime mortgages or loans given to people with good credit posted the biggest jump in delinquencies. So that's something to watch out for. Tech stocks could get a boost and we are seeing that in the first few seconds of trading thanks to better than expected results from Research in Motion. The maker of the BlackBerry says after years of success in the corporate market, it's now making inroads into the consumer market. Analysts say the Obama factor is also giving the company a boost. President Obama, as we all know, an avid BlackBerry user, he fought hard to keep his smart phone when he became president despite security and record-keeping concerns and RIM shares certainly are in motion Heidi, they're up 23 percent. That's helping the NASDAQ, it's up two points. The Dow, however, is down just 10 points. Remember, the blue chips gained 450 points in the previous three sessions, so it's been a nice, nice week. Unless there's a big sell-off today, Heidi, the recent rally will mark the best four-week period for the Dow since 1938. You know, we keep going back to the '30s. I will be happy when we don't go back to the '30s.</s>COLLINS: Those negative comparisons, exactly. All right Susan Lisovicz, thank you, we'll keep our fingers crossed. Members of the house and Senate want to know more about the job numbers as well. Right now, the joint economic committee is starting hearings on Capitol Hill. Some live pictures there for you. The committee is looking at the causes and effects of the economic crisis. Let's take a closer look now. CNN's Christine Romans is part of the CNN Money Team, she's joining us now from New York. So let's take a moment Christine to break down some of these numbers because I'm just looking at something here. 2 million jobs lost so far in 2009.</s>CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Heidi, 5.1 million jobs lost since this recession began and two-thirds of those jobs lost have been in the past five months. So, what that tells you is that this whole thing is really accelerating in terms of companies who are small business owners and companies and big businesses who are shedding jobs here for a variety of reasons. But many reasons that we keep hearing is because it's simply for the next six months they look out and they don't see business getting any better and they have to cut head count. We also look in here and we see that the length of the work week is shrinking. What that means is whether you work for a hotel or you work in any other kind of service industry, or you work on the factory floor or you work in a business, they are pulling back your hours if you're an hourly worker or they're asking you to take a couple of weeks off unpaid. They are doing a lot of different things even if within these numbers, even if you haven't lost your job, you can probably feel it. Eight and a half percent is the unemployment rate. That is pretty much as we expected. We've known that these numbers were going to climb, 8.5 percent, 663,000 jobs lost. When I look in the state- by-state numbers, California now has an unemployment rate of 10.5 percent, Michigan now 12 percent there, South Carolina, 11 percent, Rhode Island, Oregon. These numbers are climbing higher for just about everybody over the past three months in particular. There's something telling in this report, Heidi. It says basically it says the economy lost a dramatic number of jobs in every single industry category. You know, when you look within sort of the dry language of an economics report, it's consistent, you know? Vast job losses from industry sector, sector-by-sector, even government jobs lost about 5,000.</s>COLLINS: You know, it really, once again, sort of displays this whole idea that we have been talking about regarding the financial side of things and the economic side of things. Because all that being said, we look at the Dow and right now it's down a tiny bit but yesterday it was up, up for the year. How much of that optimism on Wall Street yesterday is due to this phenomenon -- it's probably not a phenomenon but we're trying to explain to people market to market the new accounting rules, the toxic assets getting off the books?</s>ROMANS: That's a very good point and this is something that Susan and I have both been talking about the last couple of days. Look, the people who regulate or who oversee how we account for things, how the banks account for things have some new different kinds of rules or treatment for the toxic assets for the banks that is going to allow them to show a little more clearly the toxic assets on their books and maybe help them a little bit in the position for accounting for those. It's the market to market accounting. We use this scenario, like you bought your house and now your house is worth $70,000 less than it was before and you have to take that hit right away or do you hold on to your house and wait later until maybe you're going to be able to sell it for a higher price? Well it's the same thing with the banks. They are being forced to account right away for the bad assets on their books when maybe if they held on to them for a little bit longer or could show you, look, I'm going to put them over here and I'm going to hold on to them for a little bit longer and maybe we're going to get more value for it. You know, it's just a new way to account for, it might give some breathing space for the banks and that's something that Wall Street has been paying attention to the last couple of days too.</s>COLLINS: We could go on and on, that's a whole segment.</s>ROMANS: I know it is.</s>COLLINS: Christine Romans, we're going to hope for positive numbers any where we can find them.</s>ROMANS: Sure.</s>COLLINS: Thank you, appreciate it. If you've been laid off, you don't always have to pay for job retraining or health care, though. CNN's Gerri Willis is joining us now with some free resources. We love free stuff, obviously, Gerri. Tell us all about it!</s>GERRI WILLIS, CNN PERSONAL FINANCE EDITOR: Yes, you know we're always looking for the tools, tips, and strategies to help people out in tough times. Of course, when you're unemployed one of the biggest things you worry about is health care. Good news here. Walgreen's just rolled out something it's called the Take Care Program. Now this program offers free health care services at Walgreen's clinics. Now keep in mind here, we're not talking about a doctor, we're talking about nurse practitioners, physician assistants. You're eligible if you lost your job on or after March 31 and you have no health care insurance. OK, no health insurance. What you get is treatment of things like colds, strep throat, allergies, skin conditions but not everything. If you've been in a car accident, if you have a horrible problem like cancer, this is not for you. It also doesn't include vaccinations, physicals, health evaluations. They do have a toll-free number 866-825-327 if you want more information. Keep in mind Wal-Mart and Target have similar clinics. Although, as far as we can tell right now, we contacted them yesterday, they are not providing free services. One note about the Walgreen's program it's available 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. at the company's 340 or so clinics. I mean it's something to think about if you're unemployed out there.</s>COLLINS: Yes, no question. What if you lost your job and obviously you don't have money coming in but a lot of people still have their computers. You can get on the computer and you can do what?</s>WILLIS: Well, there are other places you can get free help. If you don't have a college degree for example, you've been out of work for a long time, contact your local Goodwill Organization. These folks train people for jobs in IT, health care, retail, banking, even landscaping and it's free. Did I mention free?</s>COLLINS: Yes, yes. Say it again! Say it again!</s>WILLIS: Goodwill.org is the place to go. Now for more info on retraining career resources, the department of labor has two websites go to onestop.org, careervoyages.gov, that's going to give you information about where the jobs are in your community, what they are, what kind of training you need.</s>COLLINS: All right. Our personal finance editor Gerri Willis, sure do appreciate that and I know a lot of people at home right now are appreciating the free stuff as well.</s>WILLIS: My pleasure.</s>COLLINS: Seem to be able to use that right now. Also, looking for some help in finding a job? Get on the bus. Career counseling goes mobile.