Mixed Signals on Economy

We have been tracking the economy via the labor market. Sometimes it seems to indicate a stalled recovery. Sometimes it shows some recovery.

Today, the monthly state labor market indicators are out from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics for the month of July. So we are looking backwards. California's unemployment rate - which remains distorted due to the effect of the coronavirus on data collection - was 13.9%, down from 14.9% the month before. The U.S. overall unemployment rate was lower: 10.2%. So, California remains more hard-hit than the average. Nonfarm payroll employment rose 0.9% during the June-July 2020 period. But employment by that measure is 9.4% below what it was in July 2019.

You can find these figures and more at:
https://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/laus.pdf.
Bottom line: It could be worse. Let's hope it does go there in the months to come.

Regents Chair has Coronavirus

From the Bay Area Reporter: The chair of the University of California Board of Regents revealed this week he tested positive for the novel coronavirus. The news comes as college campuses across the country are beginning to welcome back students to campus, with some already shutting down due to outbreaks of the virus.

In a Facebook post Tuesday, August 18, gay former Los Angeles Democratic Assemblyman John A. Pérez disclosed that his "symptoms have been mild so far and I generally feel fine."

While he said he was taking "appropriate steps" to isolate himself and protect others, Pérez joked his UC colleagues "sadly" had "cut me no slack on the amount of prep I still need to do for the September Regents meeting."...

Full story at https://www.ebar.com/news/latest_news/296262

Economic Stalling

We have been tracking new weekly claims for unemployment insurance as a labor market indicator of the state of the economy. For the week ending August 15th, new claims on a seasonally-adjusted basis were 1.1 million, a jump from last week. Without adjustment, there was also a small jump.

California continued to account for a disproportionate one-fifth share of those collecting unemployment benefits.

The latest weekly claims release is (always) at https://www.dol.gov/ui/data.pdf.

Online Sharing of Courses?

You never know who is doing what online.

Last July, the University Committee on Educational Policy (UCEP) of the systemwide Academic Senate passed along a proposal (with concerns) that online courses on a particular campus that had been created for the current coronavirus crisis could be shared with other campuses.

The sharing proposal does not seem to be one of allowing students from one campus to take courses via online means on another. Rather, it appears to suggest that canned materials such as videos that were created for a course could be used by another instructor on another campus to teach the same course. Exactly what this idea would mean in practice is unclear. Note that nothing - including the situation before the coronavirus crisis - would have precluded instructor X on campus Y from voluntarily sharing materials (say, PowerPoint slides or videos) with instructor A on campus B. The concern raised by UCEP seems to involve some kind of involuntary sharing.

In any event, you can read the UCEP letter and a response by the Academic Council at:
https://senate.universityofcalifornia.edu/_files/reports/kkb-division-chairs-ucep-ilti.pdf

What could possibly go wrong? - What's the plan for off-campus?

From the NY Times: Anyone have a plan for this in fall?

...The New York Times has identified at least 251 cases of the virus tied to fraternities and sororities. At the University of California, Berkeley, 47 cases were identified in a single week in early July, most of which were connected to the Greek system. In Mississippi, a significant outbreak in Oxford, home to the state’s flagship university, was partially blamed on fraternity parties. At the University of Washington’s Seattle campus, at least 165 of the 290 cases identified by the school have been associated with its Greek Row...

Fraternities and sororities have been especially challenging for universities to regulate. Though they dominate social life on many campuses, their houses are often not owned or governed by the universities, and have frequently been the site of excessive drinking, sexual assault and hazing. That same lack of oversight, some experts say, extends to controlling the virus. Even on campuses that are offering online instruction only, people are still living in some sorority and fraternity houses...

Full story at https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/18/us/coronavirus-fraternities-sororities.html

Depressed Online

[Click on image to clarify and enlarge.]

A Berkeley study finds undergraduates and graduate students who are having trouble with online education at various unnamed public universities are also more likes to be depressed and anxious. Maybe this isn't a surprising finding. Yours truly is not an expert in psychology or the particular instruments used in the survey. However, abrupt changes in plans - in-person vs. online - can't be helping the situation.

The study is at https://escholarship.org/uc/item/80k5d5hw

A brief summary appears in https://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2020/08/19/students-reporting-depression-and-anxiety-higher-rates

The way it was: (back in 1962 - Haines Hall)

The way some people thought it might be:

The way it is turning out to be:

What could possibly go wrong? Still more updates

From today's LA Times: The new county guidelines are likely to create more financial woes for UCLA as they allow only students with no “feasible alternative” to live in campus housing, which must be limited to single occupants. The Westwood campus had hoped to house as many as 1,500 students in double-occupancy apartments.

UCLA also planned to offer about 8% of classes in person, including some that involve laboratory work, performing arts and clinical health fields. The county guidelines, however, reiterated that only classes that involved training for “essential workforce” needs, such as public health, emergency services, food, energy and transportation, could be offered in person.

A UCLA spokesman said the university was “actively reviewing the protocols” but could not yet elaborate on how the county rules would affect its reopening plan. UCLA does not start its fall quarter until Sept. 28; if public health conditions improve by then, county officials may relax the rules...

Full story at https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-08-18/la-me-county-college-reopening-rules