No bad intent in redistricting, Beebe testifies
Expert says 53% black district not enough to elect candidate
HELENA-WEST HELENA — When they made up 60 percent of the voting-age population, blacks already struggled to consistently elect black candidates to represent them from this section of Arkansas, an expert witness testified Tuesday at a federal trial over whether the state’s district lines violate the Voting Rights Act.
Now, with blacks making up only 53 percent of the voting-age population in newly formed District 24, it’s even less likely that black voters will have the opportunity to elect the candidate of their choice, electoral consultant Lisa Handley testified to a panel of three judges in Helena-west Helena.
Earlier in the day, Gov. Mike Beebe testified that he and his staff didn’t intentionally set the boundaries to dilute the power of black voters or make the district more advantageous for a white candidate, as the lawsuit alleges.
The lawsuit states that board members “drew that Senate plan with the intent and effect of diluting the voting strength of African American voters in northeastern Arkansas and denying them an equal opportunity to elect candidates of their choice to the Senate.”
District 24 includes all of Crittenden County and parts of Cross, Lee, Phillips and St. Francis counties.
The lawsuit contends that the Senate district lines violate Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act of 1973 as well as the 14th and 15th amendments to the U.S. Constitution, which were ratified after the Civil War to protect blacks’ civil rights.
The case is Future Mae Jeffers v. Mike Beebe. It seeks to prohibit Arkansas from using the district boundaries approved by the state Board of Apportionment and make the state draw districts that the plaintiffs say would better serve black voters in eastern Arkansas, particularly in Senate District 24.
Handley, who also specializes in post-conflict election situations for the United Nations, testified that the area within the new boundaries of District 24 has consistently held racially polarized elections over the past decade when the black voting-age
Improving prospects may lure more workers into the labor market and help the world’s largest economy cut into the 5 million-job deficit that remains as a result of the recession that ended in June 2009. Faster hiring and the accompanying wage gains are needed to sustain consumer spending, which grew in the first quarter at the fastest pace in more than a year.
“The degree of caution among employers may be abating somewhat,” Stephen Stanley, chief economist for Pierpont Securities LLC in Stamford, Conn., said before the report. “It’ll still be a slow grind.”
Jared Franz, an economist at T. Rowe Price in Baltimore, said that the increase in job openings was evidence that “steady labor market healing continues.”
Steven Ricchiuto, chief economist at Mizuho Securities, said the report was consistent with gains of 175,000 jobs per month.
U.S. stocks fell Tuesday as traders digested more news of political and economic turmoil in Europe. After a 198point drop, the Dow Jones industrial average closed down 76.44 points, or 0.6 percent, at 12,932.09.
Tuesday’s job-openings report helps shed light on the dynamics behind the Labor Department’s monthly employment figures.
Payrolls climbed by 115,000 workers in April, the fewest in six months and less than the median forecast of economists surveyed by Bloomberg News, Labor Department figures showed Friday. It came after a revised 154,000 gain in March that was larger than initially estimated.
The number of people hired decreased to 4.36 million in March from 4.44 million the previous month, Tuesday’s report showed. The hiring rate held at 3.3 percent.
Manufacturers led the gain in job openings for the month as all industries, except government agencies, looked to expand.
Total firings, which exclude retirements and those who left jobs voluntarily, decreased to 1.68 million from 1.73 million a month before. That left the firing rate at 1.3 percent, the same as in February.
“The degree of caution among employers may be abating somewhat.
It’ll still be a slow grind.”
— Stephen Stanley, chief economist for Pierpont Securities LLC in Stamford, Conn.
About 2.15 million people quit their jobs in March, up from 2.07 million in February. The increase may signal workers are gaining confidence that they can find other work as the economy grows.
Last week’s payrolls report showed the unemployment rate fell to a three-year low of 8.1 percent in April from 8.2 percent in March. (Arkansas’ unemployment rate was 7.4 percent in March, the most recent measurement.) The participation rate, or the share of the working-age population either employed or looking for jobs, dropped to 63.6 percent, the lowest since December 1981, as people left the labor force.
Federal Reserve policymakers view unemployment as “elevated” and plan to hold borrowing costs low through late 2014.
In the 12 months that ended in March, the economy created a net 1.9 million jobs, representing 50.7 million hires and about 48.8 million separations, Tuesday’s report showed.
Chrysler Group LLC is among companies expanding their work forces. The automaker controlled by Fiat SPA said it will accelerate the addition of 1,100 jobs and a third crew of workers by hiring them in November, pulling ahead plans for increasing production in early 2013.
The job market for teens also is warming up along with the weather. Hiring is expected to be better than during the recession, and there’ll be less competition from jobless adults looking for part-time, seasonal work, according to several hiring studies.
“Companies are doing bet population ter and have more room to hire teens. It’s not a breakout year, but there’s steady improvement in the job market and teens will get their share of that,” said John Challenger, chief executive officer of Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc. in Chicago.
Challenger’s annual study of summer teen hiring, released in April, said there’s been a rebound from 2010, when teen hiring hit an alltime low of 960,000 — the lowest level since 1949. Last year, it was up 13.2 percent, as 1.08 million teens landed employment in May, June and July.
Challenger estimates 1.2 million teens could land summer jobs this year.