AP answers your questions on the news, from unemployment levels in the Depression to El Nino

Ask AP: Depression-era unemployment, El Nino

Curiosity about the number of people unemployed during the Great Depression inspired one of the questions in this edition of “Ask AP,” a weekly Q&A column where AP journalists respond to readers’ questions about the news.

If you have your own news-related question that you’d like to see answered by an AP reporter or editor, send it to newsquestions@ap.org, with “Ask AP” in the subject line. And please include your full name and hometown so they can be published with your question.

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What was the highest number of unemployed people during the Depression of the 1930s?

Helen Schaible

Bismarck, N.D.

The unemployment rate spiked at 24.9 percent in 1933. The number of out of work people swelled to 12.8 million, while a total of 38.8 million people had jobs.

The way the government measured employment was different back then. For instance, figures are based on workers 14 years of age and older. Today’s employment figures are based on workers 16 years and older.

As of March, 138.9 million people were employed, while 15 million were without jobs. The unemployment rate stands at 9.7 percent, close to its highest levels since the early 1980s. The labor force, however, has tripled since 1933. That’s why the unemployment rate is lower now than back then — even though there are more people out of work.

Jeannine Aversa

AP Economics Writer

Washington

Illegal/Undocumented immigration is a very hot topic in the news. Many who are seen as “anti-immigrant” say they would be supportive if people just immigrated into the U.S. legally. What is the process for a laborer to immigrate legally into the U.S.?

Josef Sifuentes

Houston

A worker wanting to come to the U.S. legally is dependent on an employer wanting that worker, and applying for temporary workers to fill jobs that can’t be filled by qualified American workers.

There are temporary worker programs for professionals and nonprofessionals. Laborers would generally come to the U.S. with an H-2A visa for temporary or seasonal agricultural workers, or a H-2B visa for temporary nonagricultural workers, such as landscaping, construction, cleaning, and restaurant and hotel jobs.

There is no limit on H-2A visas, which are not widely used. H-2B visas are limited to 66,000 a year.

More detailed information about the process for getting these visas can be found on the temporary workers page of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Web site: tinyurl.com/yfaxpfa

Suzanne Gamboa

Associated Press Writer

Washington

Several times I thought a reporter mentioned that there was an El Nino this year. However, it was colder than normal in the Midwest and East in February and March. In previous El Nino years, I thought it was usually warm and dry in the winter and spring. Is there an El Nino?

Dan Punzak

Springfield, Ill.

A moderate-to-strong El Nino is under way and is expected to continue through spring. In the past, El Ninos have been associated with heavy East Coast snowstorms but El Nino winters often tend to be mild over Western Canada and much of the northern United States.

This year, however, there was a coconspirator, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s CSI (as in Climate Scene Investigators).

A major factor this year was the North Atlantic Oscillation, a fluctuating air-pressure pattern that alternatively strengthens or blocks the storm-steering jet stream over North America.

This winter the NAO produced a massive block of high pressure over Greenland that caused the jet stream to flow further south than usual bringing along cold weather from the north. NOAA reports that it’s an unusual winter circulation pattern, but one that has happened before. This situation was also implicated in severe winters over Europe and Russia in the early 1940s that helped turn the tide of World War II.

Randolph E. Schmid

AP Science Writer

Washington

Have questions of your own? Send them to newsquestions@ap.org.