The median amount of time it's taking for unemployed people to find new jobs is about 21 weeks.
Here?s the good news: Employers are hiring more workers than they are firing these days, a welcome turnaround from the darkest days of the Great Recession.
Here?s the bad news: If you are among those unlucky enough to lose your job now, you'd better prepare for a long job search.
The median duration of unemployment was 21 weeks or about five months as of December. That means half of all unemployed workers had been without a job for more than five months.
That?s actually an improvement from mid-2010, when the median duration of unemployment peaked at 25 weeks. But it?s still nearly three times what it was before the recession began and much higher than in previous tough job markets.
The main problem: There just aren?t enough jobs to go around.
Last year the economy added an average of about 137,000 jobs a month. While that?s better than when the economy was shedding jobs, it wasn?t nearly enough to absorb the millions of unemployed and new workers entering the market, said Sylvia Allegretto, an economist with the Institute for Research on Labor and Employment at the University of California, Berkeley.
?That rate of job growth is simply not fast enough to really soak up all those who are unemployed and underemployed, and those who have left the labor market and will be coming back to the labor market,? Allegretto said.
?
Allegretto doesn?t expect the situation to improve?much soon for the long-term unemployed.
That?s partly because there are still 13 million people who are unemployed and seeking work. It?s also because there are many other Americans out there who may have stopped looking for a job because the market was so bad, and will start looking again if the market improves.
Those excruciatingly long job searches are an especially big problem for older workers. The median duration of unemployment for 20- to 24-year-olds was 16.3 weeks in December, compared with 31.4 weeks for 55- to 64-year-olds.
Related:
Many Americans still not prepared for a job loss????? Five years without work: Labor department will now track it
How long do you think it would take you to find a new job?
Notre Dame physicists use ion beams to detect art forgeryPublic release date: 20-Jan-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Michael Wiescher Michael.C.Wiescher.1@nd.edu 574-631-6788 University of Notre Dame
University of Notre Dame nuclear physicists Philippe Collon and Michael Wiescher are using accelerated ion beams to pinpoint the age and origin of material used in pottery, painting, metalwork and other art. The results of their tests can serve as powerful forensic tools to reveal counterfeit art work, without the destruction of any sample as required in some chemical analysis.
Their research is featured on the front cover of the current issue of Physics Today in an article titled, "Accelerated ion beams for art forensics." Wiescher and Collon say, "Art experts play an important role in identifying the style, history and context of a painting, but a solid scientific basis for the proper identification and classification of a piece of art must rely on information from other sources.
"A host of approaches with origins in biology, chemistry and physics have allowed scientists and art historians not only to look below a painting's or artifact's surface, but also to analyze in detail the pigments used, investigate painting techniques and modifications done by the artist or art restorers, find trace materials that reveal ages and provenances, and more," Wiescher and Collon continue.
The information that is revealed can shed light on trading patterns, economic conditions and other details of history. For example, the amount of silver in Roman coins can indicate the degree of inflation in the ancient economy.
Laboratories in Europe, including several in Italy and one in the basement of the Louvre in Paris, have accelerators dedicated to the forensic analysis of art, and archaeological artifacts. These accelerator-based techniques have allowed not only to analyze the works themselves, but also to determine origin, trade and migration routes as well as dietary information. As an example, the analysis of the ruby eyes in a Babylonian statue of the goddess Ishtar using the Louvre's accelerator showed that the rubies came from a mine in Vietnam, demonstrating that trade occurred between those far-apart regions some 4,000 years ago.
At Notre Dame, researchers are using proton-induced x-ray emission (PIXE) and Accelerator Mass Spectroscopy (AMS) to study artifacts brought by local archeologists, Native American cultures in the American Southwest and the Snite Museum of Art extensive collection of Mezzo-American figurines.
Wiescher, the Frank M. Freimann Professor of Physics, and Collon, associate professor of physics, are using their findings to teach undergraduates. Wiescher initially developed the undergraduate physics class called Physical Methods in Art and Archaeology, and now Collon teaches the class which attracts students from nearly every major. The course covers topics such as X-ray fluorescence and X-ray absorption, proton-induced X-ray emission, neutron-induced activation analysis, radiocarbon dating, accelerator mass spectroscopy, luminescence dating, and methods of archeometry.
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Notre Dame physicists use ion beams to detect art forgeryPublic release date: 20-Jan-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Michael Wiescher Michael.C.Wiescher.1@nd.edu 574-631-6788 University of Notre Dame
University of Notre Dame nuclear physicists Philippe Collon and Michael Wiescher are using accelerated ion beams to pinpoint the age and origin of material used in pottery, painting, metalwork and other art. The results of their tests can serve as powerful forensic tools to reveal counterfeit art work, without the destruction of any sample as required in some chemical analysis.
Their research is featured on the front cover of the current issue of Physics Today in an article titled, "Accelerated ion beams for art forensics." Wiescher and Collon say, "Art experts play an important role in identifying the style, history and context of a painting, but a solid scientific basis for the proper identification and classification of a piece of art must rely on information from other sources.
"A host of approaches with origins in biology, chemistry and physics have allowed scientists and art historians not only to look below a painting's or artifact's surface, but also to analyze in detail the pigments used, investigate painting techniques and modifications done by the artist or art restorers, find trace materials that reveal ages and provenances, and more," Wiescher and Collon continue.
The information that is revealed can shed light on trading patterns, economic conditions and other details of history. For example, the amount of silver in Roman coins can indicate the degree of inflation in the ancient economy.
Laboratories in Europe, including several in Italy and one in the basement of the Louvre in Paris, have accelerators dedicated to the forensic analysis of art, and archaeological artifacts. These accelerator-based techniques have allowed not only to analyze the works themselves, but also to determine origin, trade and migration routes as well as dietary information. As an example, the analysis of the ruby eyes in a Babylonian statue of the goddess Ishtar using the Louvre's accelerator showed that the rubies came from a mine in Vietnam, demonstrating that trade occurred between those far-apart regions some 4,000 years ago.
At Notre Dame, researchers are using proton-induced x-ray emission (PIXE) and Accelerator Mass Spectroscopy (AMS) to study artifacts brought by local archeologists, Native American cultures in the American Southwest and the Snite Museum of Art extensive collection of Mezzo-American figurines.
Wiescher, the Frank M. Freimann Professor of Physics, and Collon, associate professor of physics, are using their findings to teach undergraduates. Wiescher initially developed the undergraduate physics class called Physical Methods in Art and Archaeology, and now Collon teaches the class which attracts students from nearly every major. The course covers topics such as X-ray fluorescence and X-ray absorption, proton-induced X-ray emission, neutron-induced activation analysis, radiocarbon dating, accelerator mass spectroscopy, luminescence dating, and methods of archeometry.
###
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?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Source: www.chinanationalnews.com --- Wednesday, January 18, 2012 Sharjah ruler Sheikh Sultan bin Mohammed Al Qasimi and visiting Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao inaugurated the fourth Arab-Chinese Business Conference here Wednesday. ...
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Will fans head to Target to get a sneak peek at the final "Twilight" movie?
By Gael Fashingbauer Cooper
"Twilight" fans have become accustomed to seeking out just-released still photos and video clips from films in the series on the Web, but now they'll have to make the trek to their local Target store for a preview.
The store's website has announced that certain locations will stay open?late on Friday, Feb. 10 to show a sneak peak of "Breaking Dawn Part 2," the final film in Stephenie Meyer's vampire-romance series.
Feb. 10 is the date that "Breaking Dawn Part 1" will be released on DVD and Blu-ray. Beginning at 9 p.m. that night, those participating stores will hand out tickets to buy the movie, and then the preview will be shown at 11 p.m. Stores will close at 1 a.m. The Target website offers a link to participating stores.
The copies of the movie sold at Target also come with an artificial flower that was used in Bella and Edward's wedding on?"Breaking Dawn Part 1."
Some fans who had already pre-ordered the movie elsewhere were upset that they didn't know about the special prop in advance. Wrote one reader at CafeMom.com: "BOO! I already pre-ordered the DVD from Amazon. I hate it when Target does this; a week after they announce when the DVD is coming out, Target announces their release with some extra goody like the petal from the wedding."
Will you stay up late and head to Target for the preview? Tell us on Facebook.
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Public release date: 20-Jan-2012
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