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Author Topic: The real unemployment rate? Try 15.6%  (Read 2087 times)

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Offline thundley4

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The real unemployment rate? Try 15.6%
« on: April 16, 2009, 10:44:58 AM »
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The official US jobless rate, now 8.5%, excludes millions of people -- among them those who have given up on finding work and those forced into working fewer hours than they'd like.

An 8.5% unemployment rate is unmistakably bad. It's the highest rate since 1983 -- a year that saw double-digit unemployment, nearly 30 commercial bank failures and more than 15% of Americans living below the poverty line.
But the real national unemployment rate is far worse than the U.S. Department of Labor's March figure, announced today, shows. That's because the official rate doesn't include the 3.7 million-plus people who are reluctantly working only part time because of the poor labor market. And it doesn't include the workers who have given up scouring want ads for seemingly nonexistent jobs.
When those folks are added to the numbers, the unemployment rate rises to 15.6%. In March 2008, that number was 9.3%. The Bureau of Labor Statistics began tracking this alternative measure (.pdf file) in 1995.
"The situation out there is very grim," says Heather Boushey, a senior economist at the Center for American Progress, a left-leaning think tank. "We have seen the mounting of job losses faster than any point since World War II. I have never seen anything escalate this bad."
MSNBC


I fall into that underemployed category for now. Fortunately, previous overtime and vacation has allowed me to get by without dipping into saviings.   Thank you Mr. 0Bama.

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Offline Lord Undies

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Re: The real unemployment rate? Try 15.6%
« Reply #1 on: April 16, 2009, 10:51:50 AM »
Unemployment rates vary considerable by geographic location.  Around my parts there are still "Help Wanted" signs being ignored.
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Offline DixieBelle

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Re: The real unemployment rate? Try 15.6%
« Reply #2 on: April 16, 2009, 12:25:16 PM »
Not be a Pollyanna because I know how real this issue is for a lot of us, but the economy WILL bounce back. I'm confident that the situation will improve and I feel that it already has. I also question anything put out by the govt since Jan 21, 2009.
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Offline thundley4

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Re: The real unemployment rate? Try 15.6%
« Reply #3 on: April 16, 2009, 12:56:09 PM »
Quote from: DixieBelle on April 16, 2009, 12:25:16 PM
Not be a Pollyanna because I know how real this issue is for a lot of us, but the economy WILL bounce back. I'm confident that the situation will improve and I feel that it already has. I also question anything put out by the govt since Jan 21, 2009.

I think 0Bama's plans are helping to delay the natural recovery that should be happening. 
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Offline DixieBelle

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Re: The real unemployment rate? Try 15.6%
« Reply #4 on: April 16, 2009, 02:13:43 PM »
Totally agree!!!! Let us touch bottom so we can swim back up.
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Forget change, bring back common sense.
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Offline Ptarmigan

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Re: The real unemployment rate? Try 15.6%
« Reply #5 on: April 16, 2009, 02:31:35 PM »
Had the government done nothing about bailing out businesses and allowed them to hit the pavement hard, we would be bouncing back right now. And yes, the unemployment rate you see is based on who takes the benefits. There are people who don't take unemployment benefits and are not counted.
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Offline Eupher

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Re: The real unemployment rate? Try 15.6%
« Reply #6 on: April 16, 2009, 02:41:28 PM »
Yep, Mrs. E is in that category of working part-time in lieu of full time because of the sucky employment prospects.

Here she is, holder of a master's degree with a lifetime teaching certificate in Missouri, making $10 an hour as a church secretary. Oh, and only 35 hours per week.

I'd blame 0Bama, but she was laid off last October and landed this "gig" in January.

But I can blame him for a lackluster recovery
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Offline Thor

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Re: The real unemployment rate? Try 15.6%
« Reply #7 on: April 16, 2009, 03:21:46 PM »
Quote from: Ptarmigan on April 16, 2009, 02:31:35 PM
Had the government done nothing about bailing out businesses and allowed them to hit the pavement hard, we would be bouncing back right now. And yes, the unemployment rate you see is based on who takes the benefits. There are people who don't take unemployment benefits and are not counted.

There are also people that have fallen off of the unemployment roles or not eligible for one reason or another.
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Offline Ptarmigan

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Re: The real unemployment rate? Try 15.6%
« Reply #8 on: April 16, 2009, 07:40:46 PM »
Quote from: Thor on April 16, 2009, 03:21:46 PM
There are also people that have fallen off of the unemployment roles or not eligible for one reason or another.

Yeah. The economic recovery is contingent on how the unemployment rate is.
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Offline JohnnyReb

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Re: The real unemployment rate? Try 15.6%
« Reply #9 on: April 19, 2009, 07:04:01 AM »
My county has seen a slight reduction in the unemployment rate.....it now stands at 18.9%......not because some have found a job but because the textile mills shut down long ago (over the course of 2 or more years ago) and some people have just slam run out of benefits.
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Offline Baruch Menachem

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Re: The real unemployment rate? Try 15.6%
« Reply #10 on: April 30, 2009, 06:03:12 PM »
I start being unemployed on Monday.

There might be another measure of unemployement that is being missed, that is businesses holding onto employees during slack. We are down to 15% of November volume.   This department is laying off 15% of the work force here.

Even with that, there is probably another tranche of layoffs sooner or later, as volumes just aren't picking up.
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Offline USA4ME

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Re: The real unemployment rate? Try 15.6%
« Reply #11 on: May 01, 2009, 03:04:48 PM »
Read somewhere the other day that there's something like 50+ metro areas in the USA where unemployment exceeds 10%.

.
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Offline Chris_

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Re: The real unemployment rate? Try 15.6%
« Reply #12 on: May 02, 2009, 06:16:03 PM »
Quote from: USA4ME on May 01, 2009, 03:04:48 PM
Read somewhere the other day that there's something like 50+ metro areas in the USA where unemployment exceeds 10%.

.

According to Rush last week, the figure is 119 Municipalities currently with double-digit unemployment.

I'm soooooo f'ing glad Lord Zero saved us all from that rotten BOOOOOOOOOSH economy.  ****in' bastard.   :hammer:
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