Washington, D.C., United States (AHN) – Congress Friday swiftly passed a deal to extend the payroll-tax cut through the end of 2012, continue paying unemployment benefits and avoid a steep cut in Medicare doctors’s fee, moving forward from a lengthy fight that had tied up legislators for months.

The House voted 293-132 to pass the measure. The Senate quickly followed with a 60-36 vote.

The move averts a tax increase on millions of Americas and the end of this month.

Under the deal, the tax paid by workers to Social Security will remain at 4.2 percent instead of reverting to 6.2 percent on March 1.

The deal also avoids a 27 percent cut in payments to doctors who serve Medicare patients, and extends through year’s end payment rates for Medicare doctors. The costs will be offset in part by taking $5 billion from a prevention and public health program established under President Obama’s signature and hotly debated health-overhaul bill.

Both parties are claiming victory.

Lawmakers now head out of town for a week-long recess.

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New York, NY, United States (AHN) – New claims for unemployment benefits unexpectedly fell last week to the lowest level in nearly four years.

The Labor Department reported Thursday that initial claims for state unemployment benefits dropped 13,000 to a seasonally adjusted 348,000, the lowest since March 2008. Economists had forecast claims rising to 365,000.

The four-week moving average for new claims, a better measure of the labor market, fell 1,750 to 365,250, the lowest since April 2008.

The number of people still receiving benefits under regular state programs after an initial week of aid fell 100,000 to 3.43 million in the week ending Feb.4.

While the numbers are welcome and encouraging, and signal renewed strength in the labor market, things are still not so rosy.

Some 23.8 million Americans are currently either out of work or underemployed. There are no job openings for nearly three out of every four unemployed.

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Washington, D.C., United States (AHN) – A congressional committee took on part of the nation’s illegal immigration problem Thursday during a hearing on guest worker programs.

A House Judiciary subcommittee heard from witnesses from state agricultural programs in California, Georgia and North Carolina who support the idea of using foreign workers to harvest their crops.

However, almost no one wants them to stay in the United States after they complete their work, which would add to a problem that has created about 12 million illegal immigrants.

“There is no numerical limit to H-2A temporary agricultural work visas, yet half of farm workers remain illegal immigrants,” Lamar Smith, chairman of the subcommittee on immigration policy enforcement, said at the hearing. “Why don’t more growers who have heavy demands for seasonal agricultural labor make use of the program? Well, in 2008, the Department of Labor concluded that the vast majority of growers find the H-2A program so plagued with problems that they avoid using it altogether.”

Farmers’ complaints about the guest worker program include the bureaucratic obstacles to obtaining the visas and the high cost of providing workers with housing, which is required.

A bill pending in Congress would allow states to administer their own version of a visa program that brings in foreign workers for seasonal farm work. The bill also would give permission for some foreigners to work year-round in the United States, but only for limited periods of time, such as two years.

State programs would reduce regulatory barriers and allow more workers to qualify for the visas, according to supporters of the proposal.

The U.S. Labor Department now administers the H-2A program of short-term visas for guest workers.

However, the Labor Department has been criticized for not administering it properly.

About 1 million guest workers reside in the United States while millions of others live in the country illegally.

Critics of the program say it should be expanded so there would not be much need for illegal immigrant workers.

The government could then monitor their presence and get them to leave the United States peacefully when their visas expire.

The alternative requires turning the borders into armed camps and forcibly deporting illegal immigrants who return within a few weeks.

“America needs an agricultural guest worker program that is fair to everyone it impacts – American growers, farm workers, consumers and guest workers,” Smith said. “The program must provide growers who want to do the right thing with a reliable source of legal labor. It must protect the livelihoods of American workers and the rights of guest workers. And it must keep in mind the pocketbooks of American families.”

The current guest worker program does not meet those goals, according to witnesses at the hearing Thursday.

Gary W. Black, a Georgia Department of Agriculture commissioner, said Georgia’s farmers who did not hire illegal immigrants experienced a labor shortage under the Labor Department’s guest worker program.

The Georgia Agriculture Department did a study last year that showed 26 percent of its farmers suffered a loss of income because of a labor shortage despite a high unemployment rate nationwide. The problems were most severe in the fruit and vegetable industries.

“Even with unemployment rates hovering around 10 percent, this task was not as easy as it would seem,” Black said.

He mentioned the case of a Georgia farmer who “had one employee that worked half a day one week and two half days the next week. This employee earned a total of $119. The employee walked off the job and did not return though plenty of work was available. In addition, the employee filed an unemployment claim, and the producer received notification that the employee was eligible for $235 weekly benefits for 17 weeks.”

Foreign workers, such as illegal immigrants, would not be entitled to unemployment insurance benefits.

During his 2008 presidential campaign, Barack Obama said he would make immigration reform a priority of his administration. He mentioned it again during his 2012 State of the Union address.

More recently, Obama admitted during an interview with the Spanish language television station Univision that he has not accomplished his immigration reform goals, which he blamed on obstruction by Republicans in Congress.

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Paris, France (AHN) – French aviation workers continued their strike for a third consecutive day Wednesday, forcing carrier Air France to cancel 30 percent of its domestic flights and 40 percent of long-haul flights.

The strike has not only affected Paris’ Charles de Gaulle airport and regional airports but also thousands of passengers.

Aviation workers organized the four-day strike in protest of a proposed law that would require them to individually give at least 48 hours notice before they go on strike.

The French Lower House approved the bill last month and is in the Senate for approval.

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Washington, D.C., United States (AHN) – The United States this week expanded cooperation with India on labor and employment issues with the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) that was hailed by both as a tool to enhance strong bonds between the two democracies.

Calling the MoU “an essential part of our bilateral relationship,” Mark Toner, the State Department spokesman, told journalists on Friday, “When you look at our relationship and the strategic dialogue that we have with India, there’s many baskets of issues that fall under that rubric, and certainly labor laws are one of those.”

Earlier on Thursday, Mallikarjun Kharge, visiting Indian minister for labor and employment, and U.S. Labor Secretary Hilda Solis inked a bilateral MoU for cooperation in the areas of skill development, youth employment, occupational safety and health and mines safety and health.

Kharge emphasized that, “the road map laid down in the Memorandum of Understanding will facilitate very close cooperation and interaction between our two countries and bring about improvements in the life of workers and their working conditions.”

Welcoming the structured bilateral engagement, Solis said, “Our governments share a firm commitment to workers and their rights. Today marks the launch of a new program to share valuable information that will ensure that workers’ rights are respected.”

Kharge said that India was interested in increasing its know-how in the areas of accreditation systems, self-regulation and auditing through collaboration, exchange and sharing of ideas, among other initiatives with the U.S.

During a press conference with Washington-based Indian media, the minister said, “This is the first time India and the U.S. is signing such an important document and naturally it is going to help both of us–more to us and they will be also very anxious to help us.”

Citing a vision by Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh of teaching skills to 500 million persons by 2022, the visiting minister stated that collaboration with U.S. would “enrich us in the areas of training delivery methods, certification, preparation of instructional material, curriculum development and expanding outreach.”

The latest cooperation move would help in further developing “an appropriate employment strategy for inclusive growth in India and strong bonds between the people of our two great nations,” Kharge emphasized.

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Khartoum, Sudan (AHN) – Sudan’s army on Monday was pursuing rebels who kidnapped 29 Chinese workers in the restive South Kordofan region.

Fighters of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement, which is trying to overthrow Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir, seized the workers in the compound of a Chinese construction company involved in a local road project on Saturday during a clash with government troops.

Fourteen Chinese workers were rescued by soldiers while another 15 were missing, according to Khartoum government spokesman Rabie Abdelaty. The state-owned Chinese news agency Xinhua reported that 18 Chinese workers who fled the compound when rebels raided it were found in a neighboring area and secured.

The Chinese construction company’s security personnel were working with Sudanese authorities in the rescue of the workers.

The rebels claimed the Chinese workers were unharmed and they were just protecting the foreigners from harm during the fighting with government troops. They denied any link with the South Sudan government, which is ruled by a party having the same name as the rebels’ group.

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Washington, DC, United States (AHN) – Initial jobless claims for the week ending Jan. 21 rose by 21,000 to 377,000, compared with the previous week’s revised figure of 356,000, the U.S. Department of Labor said.

The less volatile four-week moving average was 377,500, a drop of 2,500 from the previous week’s revised average of 380,000.

DOL figures show that the total number of people claiming benefits in all programs for the week ending Jan. 7, the most recent week for which such data is available, was 7,638,233, down by 188,612 people from the previous week.

The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending Jan. 14 were:

• Florida (+2,711)
• California (+1,682)
• Iowa (+596)
• West Virginia (+571)
• District of Columbia (+115)

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Washington, DC, United States (AHN) – Initial unemployment claims dropped to 352,000 during the week ending Jan. 14, their lowest level in nearly four years.

First time claims for jobless benefits dropped by 50,000 from the previous week’s revised tally of 402,000, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.

The less volatile four-week moving average was 379,000, a decrease of 3,500 from the previous week’s revised average of 382,500.

However, the advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate also dropped. Only 2.7 percent of jobless workers were covered by unemployment insurance for the week ending Jan. 7, a decrease of 0.2 percentage point from the prior week’s unrevised rate.

The total number of people claiming benefits in all programs for the week ending Dec. 31, the most recent week for which data is available, was 7,826,665, an increase of 493,566 from the previous week.

The highest insured unemployment rates in the week ending Dec. 31 were:

• Alaska (6.9)
• Connecticut (6.6)
• Oregon (5.0)
• Wisconsin (4.9)
• Pennsylvania (4.7)
• Idaho (4.5)
• Rhode Island (4.5)
• Montana (4.3)
• New Jersey (4.2)
• Arkansas (4.0)
• Illinois (4.0)
• Washington (4.0).

The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending Jan. 7 were:

• New York (+29,389)
• California (+22,168)
• Texas (+13,946)
• North Carolina (+7,865)
• Georgia (+7,225)

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New York, NY, United States (AHN) – Swiss drugmaker Novartis says it will cut nearly 2,000 jobs in the United States in anticipation of loss of revenue as its patent protection expires on its blockbuster drug Diovan.

Diovan is a blood pressure medication. It is the company’s top products and brought in more than $6 billion in revenue in 2010, the most recent year for sales data.

However, Novartis (NVS) will lose its patent protection on Diovan in September. That will open the market for cheaper generic production of the drug by competing drug makers, which will cause the price of the drug to drop.

Although Novartis has many other popular drugs that bring in billions, including cancer drugs Femara, Gleevec, Glivec and Zometa and vision drug Lucentis, none of them alone brings in the kind of revenue that Diovan does.

Novartis said the jobs cuts would take place in the second quarter of the year. It will cut 330 jobs at its U.S. headquarters in East Hanover, NJ. as well as reduce its “field force” by 1,630 positions, primarily sales reps. The company employs about 121,000 workers worldwide, including 30,000 in the U.S.

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Washington, DC, United States (AHN) – The U.S. Department of Agriculture plans to close 259 offices nationwide as part of a program to cut costs and improve service.

In a statement that coincided with the American Farm Bureau Federation’s annual meeting, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced changes to his agency worth about $150 million in savings every year.

The measures, which had been expected, will reduce the agency’s workforce by more than 7,000 employees. Apart from the domestic closures, seven international offices will be shuttered.

The restructuring follows a department-wide review of operations that recommended consolidating 700 cell phone contracts into about 10.

Since 2010, Congress has cut the USDA’s discretionary spending by $3 billion, or 12 percent.

“The USDA, like families and businesses across the country, cannot continue to operate like we did 50 years ago,” Vilsack said. “We must innovate, modernize, and be better stewards of the taxpayers’ dollars.”

Agriculture is the second most productive sector of the U.S. economy, providing one in 12 jobs nationwide and leaving a $42 billion farm trade surplus after producing $137.4 billion worth of exports.

The closures involve offices and laboratories that are either not staffed or are staffed by no more than two employees. Other facilities are located within 20 miles of other offices.

Among those affected are 131 Farm Service Agency offices. In addition, 15 Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service offices in 11 states, and five offices of the agency abroad will be shuttered. The APHIS will be left with about 560 domestic offices and 55 abroad.

Vilsack assured that the quality of service will not be sacrificed with the changes, citing available technology. “American agriculture is currently experiencing its most productive period in history thanks to the resiliency, resourcefulness and efficiency of our farmers,” he said. “As we move forward, USDA will continue to find ways to modernize its services.”

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