Guess what? Unemployment is up again! That's right - even though Wall Street is swimming in cash and the Obama administration is declaring that "the recession is over", the U.S. unemployment rate has gone even higher. So are you enjoying the jobless recovery? The truth is that there should not be any talk of a "recovery" as long as the "official" unemployment rate remains at around 10 percent and the "real" unemployment continues to hover around 17 percent. There are millions and millions of American families that are living every day in deep pain because of the lack of jobs. Meanwhile, there are all of these economic pundits that are declaring that we are just going to have to realize that chronic unemployment is the "new normal" and that if other nations can handle high rates of unemployment then so can we. The most optimistic economists are projecting that we can perhaps get the unemployment rate down to around 8 percent by 2012. On the other hand, there are many economists that are convinced that things are going to get even worse.
If you have never been unemployed, it can be hard to describe how soul-crushing it can be. As the bills pile up and the financial obligations mount, the pressure can be debilitating. Being unemployed for an extended period of time can easily plunge you into depression and grind your self-worth away to almost nothing. After getting rejected dozens of times (or even hundreds of times), many Americans simply give up. There are countless marriages and countless families that are being ripped to shreds by financial pressure even as you read this. When the money is gone and there is no job in sight it can be a really, really empty feeling.
Of course there is a whole lot more to life than money, but it can be difficult to tell that to someone who can barely sleep at night because of the intense pressure to find a job.
The vast majority of Americans have at least one family member or close friend that is looking for work right now. Times are really, really tough and unfortunately the long-term outlook is very bleak. We should have compassion on those who are out of work right now, because soon many of us may join them.
The following are 25 unemployment statistics that are almost too depressing to read....
#1 According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the U.S. unemployment rate for November was 9.8 percent. This was up from 9.6 percent in October, and it continues a trend of depressingly high unemployment rates. The official unemployment number has been at 9.5 percent or higher for well over a year at this point.
#2 In November 2006, the "official" U.S. unemployment rate was just 4.5 percent.
#3 Most economists had been expecting the U.S. economy to add about 150,000 jobs in November. Instead, it only added 39,000.
#4 In the United States today, there are over 15 million people who are "officially" considered to be unemployed for statistical purposes. But everyone knows that the "real" number is even much larger than that.
#5 As 2007 began, there were just over 1 million Americans that had been unemployed for half a year or longer. Today, there are over 6 million Americans that have been unemployed for half a year or longer.
#6 The number of "persons not in the labor force" in the United States recently set another new all-time record.
#7 It now takes the average unemployed American over 33 weeks to find a job.
#8 When you throw in "discouraged workers" and "underemployed workers", the "real" unemployment rate in the state of California is actually about 22 percent.
#9 In America today there are not nearly enough jobs for everyone. In fact, there are now approximately 5 unemployed Americans for every single job opening.
#10 According to The New York Times, Americans that have been unemployed for five weeks or less are three times more likely to find a new job in the coming month than Americans that have been unemployed for over a year.
#11 The U.S. economy would need to create 235,120 new jobs a month to get the unemployment rate down to pre-recession levels by 2016. Does anyone think that there is even a prayer that is going to happen?
#12 There are 9 million Americans that are working part-time for "economic reasons". In other words, those Americans would gladly take full-time jobs if they could get them, but all they have been able to find is part-time work.
#13 In 2009, total wages, median wages, and average wages all declined in the United States.
#14 As of the end of 2009, less than 12 million Americans worked in manufacturing. The last time that less than 12 million Americans were employed in manufacturing was in 1941.
#15 The United States has lost at least 7.5 million jobs since the recession began.
#16 Today, only about 40 percent of Ford Motor Company's 178,000 workers are employed in North America, and a big percentage of those jobs are in Canada and Mexico.
#17 In 1959, manufacturing represented 28 percent of U.S. economic output. In 2008, it represented 11.5 percent.
#18 Earlier this year, one poll found that 28% of all American households had at least one member that was looking for a full-time job.
#19 In the United States today, over 18,000 parking lot attendants have college degrees.
#20 The United States has lost a staggering 32 percent of its manufacturing jobs since the year 2000.
#21 As the employment situation continues to stagnate, millions of American families have decided to cut back on things such as insurance coverage. For example, the percentage of American households that have life insurance coverage is at its lowest level in 50 years.
#22 Unless Congress acts, and there is no indication that is going to happen, approximately 2 million Americans will stop receiving unemployment checks over the next couple of months.
#23 A poll that was released by the Pew Research Center back in June discovered that an astounding 55 percent of the U.S. labor force has experienced either unemployment, a pay decrease, a reduction in hours or an involuntary move to part-time work since the economic downturn began.
#24 According to Richard McCormack, the United States has lost over 42,000 factories (and counting) since 2001.
#25 In the United States today, 317,000 waiters and waitresses have college degrees.
But this is what we get for creating the biggest debt bubble in the history of the world. For decades we have been digging a deeper hole for ourselves by going into increasingly larger amounts of debt. In America today, our entire economy is based on debt. Even our money is debt. We were fools if we ever thought this could go on forever.
Just think about it. Have you ever gone out and run up a bunch of debt? It can be a lot of fun sitting behind the wheel of a new car, running your credit cards up to the limit and buying a beautiful big house that you cannot afford.
But in the end what happens?
It always catches up with you.
Well, our collective debt is starting to catch up with us. There is a sea of red ink on every level of American society. It is only a matter of time before it destroys our economy.
If you think that things are bad now, just wait. Things are going to get a whole lot worse. A horrific economic collapse is coming, and it is going to be very, very painful.
I am afraid that jobs numbers will continue to underperform as long as the government continues to “stimulate” the economy. Unfortunately, Bernanke and Obama are too committed to their ideology of meddling in the private economy, choosing winners and losers, etc. That means we all lose except for their politically connected friends and favored constituencies.
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If this would be of any reassurance to you people are jobless almost all over the world because of the banks that are sucking in all the money from the market in the form of repayments of loans and accrued interest. In terms of indicator ‘Potential of Destruction’ this financial system starts exceeding the Mayas Calendar.
If somebody wants to survive he should devise mechanisms to sell something directly to the banks (I don’t know what – art collections, computer technologies, investment projects, etc.), rather than borrowing money from them. It’s high time for the people to regain their money from the financial parasites.
I am a small-town city manager. We have job openings. The pay is only $10 and up depending on job, but you get health insurance, retirement, holidays, sick days, vacation days, etc. We cannot find people who can read/write to read meters & read work orders; or, they cannot pass the drug test to ever get hired in the first place. That is pathetic.
Good Lord!! Where is the outrage? Read this morning this is now the highest unemployment since the end of WWII.
The stimulus funds stimulated foreign banks (our tax dollars, thank you very much) but nothing for the citizens.
Will be giving away this new book for the holidays (all I can afford) cause it’s about Americans who actually take a stand. A thriller w/surprise ending. It’s a good read.
http://www.booksbyoliver.com
While congress talks about extending the unemployment benefits there are now Americans without any income. Great article!!
Get educated folks and stop beating the puppet with a stick and realize that it does not move without the puppeteers.
@bill –
Where exactly are you located? I have been unemployed for over a year and have no unemployment. I was a project manager in construction in CA. I may have lost everything I had but I’m still qualified for a $10.00 hr job and more then willing to work it.
A drama plays itself out every day in free market america that insures that unemployment will get worse; here is an anology, let,s see you, will call you blue boy, own a company that manufactures electric can openers that you sell thru sears and pennys for about $20 bucks, your biggest competitor is the crazymarine can opener company, I move my plant to mexico and save 75% on my labor costs, I offer sears and pennys a similar product to yours but they can sell my for $15 a make a better mark-up, they cancel your orders and buy my products, you are left with just two choices, move to Mexico or close up shop, either way goodbye american jobs. This drama has been and will continue to play itself out for years to come, or until we decide to re-evaluate unfettered free trade.
RE: ‘there should not be any talk of a “recovery” as long as’
… the financial system is not repaired and fixed. The problem is not to save the financial system, which is fake anyway – the problem is to save the economy and the people.
Question No.1: What is making the current financial system the greatest parasite of any age?
Structure – too complex and too heavy, with redundant units.
Lack of transparency – a large part of it is doing some transactions in ‘dark pools’ by HFT.
Pseudo functionality – short circuit intra-system deals in the virtual world, detached from the real world problems and the economy.
Pseudo investments – all that the financial system is doing at present is hidden redistribution of existing economic wealth.
Lack of perspective – we are not talking that the financial system does not know where it is leading the economy to – the financial system does not know itself where it is going.
Bill, regarding those job openings, let us know where you are. Some of us are still drug-free and literate.
The economy will not recover until we have an ethical economic structure. People paid a fair wage for their work. No price increases needed – just a better distribution of profits. The gap between CEO compensation and average Worker pay needs to be closed – by cutting CEO and increasing worker pay.
“The wages we pay are too small in comparison with our profits. I think we should raise our minimum pay rate.” – Henry Ford, 1913
Isn’t the “actual” unemployment rate closer to 23%?
Yeah, I’d really like a $10 an hour job with extras. I have a Bachelors of Science and can piss for you tommorow.
I love all this Bush did this Obama did that crap! It has nothing to do with the party your aligned with! It has to do with 99% of us are in the same boat while the 1% have all the money and power!
I have lived this myself before in the mid 80′s. I would go for months to find a job only to keep it for a few months and be laid off again. That went on for almost 4 years. I understand how people feel it sucks the life right out of you. I did not work eneough to get any kind of unemployment to help and ended up on welfare. That was an even bigger kick in the rear. Those people degrade you even further. I finally did what most of us did at the time and move out of state to find work. I moved to Norfolk Va and have been here ever since. There have been a few tough times here but there was always work to be found and still is. This place is not the best in the world to live but I have never went without here. I work in the ship repair industry and right now they are having a really tough time finding people. We get alot who say they know what they are doing but like some of the comments above they either can’t pass a drug test or just flat out do not know what they are doing, but they are working everyday. If you know of anyone that has any experience at all or trainable this would be the place to look. I hope this helps someone out there.
Brian-you are 100% correct. Great insight my friend!
Companies hold record $837B in cash, yet won’t hire workers Has anyone seen this article in the USA Today ? Although its old newd; It explains why there hasn,t been no real job growth. I posted the link; Hope you can get and read the devasting facts !!