Number of long-term unemployed hits highest rate since 1948
Forty percent of all unemployed Americans, at least 6 million, have been out of work more than six months. Many are so discouraged they have lost hope that a job exists for them.
Christian Science Monitor
It is a national challenge: reduce the number of people who have been out of work for a long time. On Friday, in the December unemployment report, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said the number of people out of work for 27 weeks or more hit 6.1 million Americans, or 40 percent of all 15.3 million jobless. This is the most since 1948, when the data was first recorded, according to the Department of Labor. On average, it now takes 20.5 weeks to find a new job – double the amount of time in the 1982-83 recession.
Many of the long-term unemployed are older workers, but some are the very young who were the first fired. A significant percentage of them don’t have a college degree, but some do. And many of them are now so discouraged they have lost their belief that a job exists for them.
Many feel shut out of the system
“It’s a real risk to the workplace,” says John Challenger of Challenger, Gray & Christmas, the outplacement firm in Chicago. “We may be creating a permanent group of people who think there are no jobs out there, who feel they are shut out of the system.”
Part of the reason the nation has such a large number of long-term unemployed is related to the nature of the downturn, says economist Richard DeKaser of Woodley Park Research in Washington.
“This is not your typical cyclical downturn where hiring is just postponed until business improves,” says Mr. DeKaser. “This is really more about structural unemployment.”
Entire industries have been hobbled, such as construction, some elements of financial services, and the auto industry.Another problem for the long-term unemployed is their inability to match existing skills to available jobs, says DeKaser. For example, 1.8 million construction jobs have been lost since December 2007. However, hiring continues in the healthcare and education fields.
“Your typical construction worker cannot migrate to those areas of the market,” says DeKaser.
Job competition favors those who've recently worked
The long-term unemployed also have another problem: explaining to an employer why they have been out of work for so long, says Mr. Challenger.
“Potential employers wonder why didn’t someone hire this person,” says Challenger. “As the economy recovers and someone who has been out of work for 45 days is competing against someone out of work for nine months, companies tend to take the person who is newly minted.”
Challenger wonders if the large number of long-term unemployed will result in the unemployment rate remaining high for some time. In fact, many economists expect that as the jobs market improves, some of the long-term unemployed (those no longer looking for work) will return to the workforce, pushing up the unemployment rate, now at 10 percent.
(More...)
"To try to help the long-term unemployed, the nation needs to beef up its retraining and community college efforts, Challenger says"
ReplyDeleteOh bullpippy! Training and education for what jobs? This is another liberal headshake to throw us off the block as Obama goes for the hoop to slam dunk our economy into the crapper.
Greed has killed the Golden Goose that was the envy of the world, the economic engine that defeated the Axis powers, crushed the Soviets and propelled a people into the highest standard of living ever known.
Stick a fork in it, the structures that supported this marvel has been eroded, eaten away. Our work ethic (tied to what some critics called a Puritanical system of morals - it worked!), our wonderful educational system and the strong nuclear family is just about gone. I don't think we'll ever see those kinds of jobs again. The politicians, unions and corporate management have seen to that as short term advantage has triumphed over long term growth.
It has been said that Asian corporations look one hundred years into the future in their planning while American business looks only to the end of the current quarter. The same goes for our politicians who only look to the next election cycle.
We are so screwed if we don't take it back from them and demand accountibility. Even so, entire generations have been indoctrinated into the "Me First And Only Me" thought pattern that we may never be able to recover.
You know what I hate also is the fact that companies make a determination on whether to hire you based solely on your credit score. I hate that because I have been turned down for that exact reason, sucky score because of health expenses. Its a double-edged sword when your trying to better yourself but can't because your credit score sucks. But, its hard for the person to improve their credit score without finding a better paying job. I am not saying there aren't any jobs out there for the person with a low credit score, because I believe there are, but I do believe that the credit score standard impedes a person's ability to find a good job. And, I believe this standard for hiring needs to be changed.
ReplyDeleteSig... there's no problem, it seems, in modern America that cannot be solved by involving unionized teachers. Where would we be without them?
ReplyDeleteI had always heard about the dreaded Protestant Work Ethic. I've learned to admire it.
Teresa... as the economy crashes around us, and as foreclosures and bankruptcies multiply, that standard may have to revisited.
ReplyDeleteI'll bet he has a party in the Oval Office every time bad news like this comes out.
ReplyDeleteBasterd, I'm believe you're correct. It's all part of a larger plan.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the sideboard mention Nickie. Some day I gotta figure out how to do that...
ReplyDeleteIt ain't hard, sig. You'll figure it out and laugh at how easy it is.
ReplyDeleteThis is all part of Obama keeping his campaign promise that we are/would see the worst economy since the Great Depression ... one more decade to go.
ReplyDeleteWhat's all of the fuss about ? I hear the federal government is hiring.
ReplyDeleteWoodie, hahah
ReplyDeleteScroll down a little to see the chart.
Yowsah.
And yes, it is part of a larger plan.
Kid sez
ReplyDelete"And yes, it is part of a larger plan."
And there's the money quote. One of the commenters at that site (and here also), Silverfiddle, asked "How many hundreds of thousands more will the health care behemoth require?
We can estimate. The Brits NHS, the National Health Service, is one of the largest employers IN THE WORLD. At 1.4 million, the NHS is third only to the Chinese Army (2.8 million) and the Indian National Railroad (1.6 million) in numbers of employees.
So, if there are 1.4 million British NHS employees - that means that 3.4% of all persons in the UK that are old enough to work are employed by the NHS. Most of these workers are administrators, not doctors or nurses. Good heavens no! The Brits don't need people actually working to provide health service, they need people reporting on the people who are actually working.
The USA has a 2009 projected population of 307,212,000 (CIA Factbook) of which 67% are between the ages of 15 and 64 (works out to 205,832,000). Roughly speaking, the US population is five times that of the UK.
If there was the same ratio of public health employees in the USA as in England working for the NHS, that would eventually translate to 7,028,000 persons needed in the American version of NHS.
US public health would be the largest employer in the world. Period.
Just think of it. All those employees "empowered" (nay "owned") by the federal government - all those wage slaves beholden to the democrats.
The real rate is nearer to 18%. Almost 8000 sole propreitorships closed their doors in CT in the second and third quarter, and the average work week here is about 33 hours.
ReplyDeleteThe shorter work week means that many people are under-employed and sole proprietors, like me, don't collect unemployment benefits.
I'm still working, but business is down 25% over last year.
"all those wage slaves beholden to the democrats"??
ReplyDeleteSig... I believe "all those Unionized wage slaves beholden to the democrats" is more accurate.
Yup... DC, that's the one campaign promise he's determined to keep.
ReplyDeleteWoody, I've applied for a GS-9 position as a Business Inhibitor.
ReplyDeleteKid, that's a great chart. Frightening and sobering. (no offense, DC).
ReplyDeleteRhod, my business is down 48% over the past year. Now it's personal.
ReplyDeleteThe great recession is far from over, soothing MSM propaganda notwithstanding.
ReplyDeleteAmerica DOESN'T need more useless damned "college graduates" and its concomitant skyrocketing fees and bills, with their degrees in "social work" and "philosophy" and "lesbian studies" and "intramural underwater basketweaving."
ReplyDeleteAmerica needs people to train in TRADES and SERVICE and MANUFACTURING industries. America needs more mechanics and plumbers and electricians and HVAC people. And it will need more doctors and nurses and medical technicians and electrical engineers and scientists.
It does NOT need any more lawyers or bureaucrats or political science majors or philosophers or professors or NON-producers in society.
BZ
Klik, I'm amazed that at some point the MSM is not humiliated by their whoredom.
ReplyDeleteZepp, too many plumbers and electricians will threaten the unions. Can't have that!
ReplyDeleteThis is not good. Obama said "Now is not the time for profits" and he meant it. Obama wants American business to fail.
ReplyDeleteScary, Ope. Really scary.
ReplyDeleteAwwwwwwww. I'm a poli sci major....
ReplyDeleteSig94, well, Nickie said it first.
ReplyDeleteAs far as health, the Dems just want all that money re-routed through DC.
Whatever happend to promoting from within and working your way up from the mail room or wharehouse floor or factory floor? What ever happend to OJT or companies sending their employees out for training or education? Whatever happened to?
ReplyDeleteWhat ever happened to it is a shame on us.
Starry, I agree.
ReplyDelete