88 million no longer in work force presents dire warning

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snapcap
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09 Apr 2012, 12:18 pm

88 million no longer in work force presents dire warning

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At the forefront of the minds of most economists, according to CBS News, is the fact that the March figures represent a disappointing performance given that most had predicted that the work force would grow by over 250,000.

But an even deeper concern is the skyrocketing number of Americans who give up looking for work out of despair. The average length of time the unemployed are out of work is at the highest level since the Great Depression of the 1930s. And the nation is experiencing its longest sustained unemployment rate of at least 8% since the Great Depression, for fully three years.


I'd have to assume that there are a growing number of retirees, but this number is just enormous. Is this even true?

I can't help feeling that most of the jobs that fill the economy nowadays are McJobs. In other words, jobs that pay less that offer less benefits than people might have had before. With the number of people that hold more than one job, it makes the number of jobs created seem even less.


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Last edited by snapcap on 09 Apr 2012, 2:01 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Feralucce
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09 Apr 2012, 1:01 pm

I don't think that it does... retirees are not normally considered for those statistics as they are considered "retired" and not unemployed


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GoonSquad
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09 Apr 2012, 1:36 pm

Click!

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The point is that in pushing various demands in its negotiations with China, the Obama administration will be favoring certain interests to the detriment of others. The bulk of the working population has a clear interest in having a lower valued dollar.

If the dollar falls by 20 percent relative to the yuan, this would have roughly the same impact as imposing a 20 percent tariff on importing Chinese goods and giving out a 20 percent subsidy on exports. Since the dollar is likely to fall against other currencies as well, this could go far toward bringing down the trade deficit, creating millions of relatively high-paying manufacturing jobs.

By contrast, Pfizer and Disney will see higher profits if China increases enforcement of their patents and copyrights, but this will provide little benefit to workers in the United States. Similarly, Goldman Sach’s increased access to China’s financial markets is not going to create jobs for workers in the United States.

In short, there is a very clear class divide in U.S. negotiations with China. The 1 percent have their laundry list of special concerns that will make them even richer. The 99 percent care about a lower-valued currency to create millions of manufacturing jobs. We will see which side the Obama administration is on.


I live in the shadow of the FOUNTAINHEAD of GLOBAL ECONOMICS, Wal-Mart World Headquarters....

Locally, we have 6% unemployment and an 18% poverty rate. Trickle-down economics sucks.

Welcome to the third-worlding of America. :roll:


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Jacoby
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09 Apr 2012, 4:36 pm

Our government cooks the books on almost every statistics they give out. Unemployment isn't any different than inflation in that regard. They don't count people that have given up looking for jobs and they don't say anything about the tons of people that are underemployed. The situation in American is a lot worse than they say it is.



ruveyn
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10 Apr 2012, 9:19 am

Jacoby wrote:
Our government cooks the books on almost every statistics they give out. Unemployment isn't any different than inflation in that regard. They don't count people that have given up looking for jobs and they don't say anything about the tons of people that are underemployed. The situation in American is a lot worse than they say it is.


The true rate of unemployment is about twice the publicly stated rate.

ruveyn



Alexender
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10 Apr 2012, 9:21 am

ruveyn wrote:
Jacoby wrote:
Our government cooks the books on almost every statistics they give out. Unemployment isn't any different than inflation in that regard. They don't count people that have given up looking for jobs and they don't say anything about the tons of people that are underemployed. The situation in American is a lot worse than they say it is.


The true rate of unemployment is about twice the publicly stated rate.

ruveyn


where do you get that?


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ruveyn
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10 Apr 2012, 9:24 am

Alexender wrote:
ruveyn wrote:
Jacoby wrote:
Our government cooks the books on almost every statistics they give out. Unemployment isn't any different than inflation in that regard. They don't count people that have given up looking for jobs and they don't say anything about the tons of people that are underemployed. The situation in American is a lot worse than they say it is.


The true rate of unemployment is about twice the publicly stated rate.

ruveyn


where do you get that?


See: http://blog.american.com/2012/03/the-re ... -isnt-8-3/

ruveyn



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10 Apr 2012, 9:31 am

Was annoying to read. I don't know terms such as u-3, u-6, etc.


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12 Apr 2012, 8:30 am

ruveyn is right on this one. the unemployment rate is said to be aprox 5% here but it doesnt include those who are under employed, those who have given up, those who cant start right away, are unable to work(the disabled) and those living in places like prison. either way even if it was 5% that still means 1 in 20 people who are jobless. i also find it hard to believe the claim that the unemployment rate here has fallen slightly when in february 15,4000 jobs were cut from the market & large corporations, the government and universities are sacking people left, right and centre. the word mcjob seems to be a good descriptor of the sort of work people have today.



snapcap
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12 Apr 2012, 11:40 am

I like how the news reports that jobless claims are on the decline, without mentioning that many people out of work no longer receive benefits. It's like these people have been ignored.

EDIT:

Actually, is the news really the news anymore?

Jobless Claims Jump

Quote:
Initial jobless claims increased by 13,000 to a seasonally adjusted 380,000 in the week ended April 7, the Labor Department said Thursday. It was the largest weekly rise in claims in nearly one year.


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hanyo
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12 Apr 2012, 2:07 pm

VMSmith wrote:
ruveyn is right on this one. the unemployment rate is said to be aprox 5% here but it doesnt include those who are under employed, those who have given up, those who cant start right away, are unable to work(the disabled) and those living in places like prison.


Someone like me for example probably isn't counted in the unemployment rate. I only worked about 7 weeks in my life.



Oldout
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01 May 2012, 10:41 am

I say humorously we need to build more prisons. Prisoners are not considered unemployed, the guards are employed, the counselors are employed, etc. Conclusion, more prisons will lower the unemployment rate.



snapcap
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01 May 2012, 3:03 pm

Oldout wrote:
I say humorously we need to build more prisons. Prisoners are not considered unemployed, the guards are employed, the counselors are employed, etc. Conclusion, more prisons will lower the unemployment rate.


Might be a reality we'll face some day. The prisoners might not just be sitting around doing nothing either.


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03 May 2012, 4:09 am

It is higher than the number, because those who went 99 weeks are not counted, even if they are applying.

Small business has come down to owners running it at a loss, because if they quit, they still owe the lease, so it is cheaper to stay open, as a non profit.

Those who have never gotten a job are not counted.

I liked that line about devaluing the dollar to produce industrial jobs. Right,

India would take that at rates we could not eat on.

"We had to destroy the village to save it."

We are near the Great Depression numbers in unemployed, and duration.

We exceed the depression in losses, still unreported, and foreclosures.

Foreclosed properties must pay the outstanding taxes and insurance. Utilities, yard work, repairs, this comes out of bank capital.

No matter who claims what, it was not the government, the banks, Wall Street, who caused this. It was Free Trade, and letting the Free Market work.

Houses, cars, any product, is produced till the market is glutted. Free Trade does produce cheaper goods, but kills consumer income. There is no way to go back to producing more expensive goods. Who would buy them?

Things in oversupply get cheaper, and that over a third in real estate was a huge number in assets, that vanished.

That lead to downscaling living, which further killed demand. Qualified buyers do not want it.

The People lost about as much as the National Debt, but they owned about 10%, the rest was owned by the banks. Bank Assets are a Black Hole. Everything was insured, Derivitives, but who can pay $150 Trillion?

No insurance company expects every house they insure to burn down in the same year.

"Shirtsleeves to shirtsleeves in three generations." Grandpa worked, saved, started a business, and his son lived well, people worked for him, his son learned nothing, did not have to, everyone woulfd loan him money, and when a down turn came he lost everything, and had no skills. Factory owner to unskilled labor overnight.

It takes generations to work your way back up, if the oppertunity exists.

Housing is in decline, jobs, income, food and gas cost more.

This could last for a while.



Douglas_MacNeill
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03 May 2012, 9:22 am

Oldout wrote:
I say humorously we need to build more prisons. Prisoners are not considered unemployed, the guards are employed, the counselors are employed, etc. Conclusion, more prisons will lower the unemployment rate.


Prisons, together with the military, are the preferred "social program" for conservative politicians. So, someone like the current incarnation of the Tea Party would say this without any humour whatsoever. Be careful what you wish for, ....



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03 May 2012, 9:34 am

The official unemployment rate where I live is supposedly 4.9% and rising. However, people who aren't looking for employment anymore are not counted, and there are plenty of those. Not added either is that the labour market is completely out of balance. Apparently, there is demand for people in technical jobs and in low-paid blue collar jobs, but higher education produces a lot of people with a degree in art, law, sociology or psychology (fields that want to introduce a cap on the number of students admitted each year). These people, if they can attain non-flexible employment, aren't paid that much. Professional jurists in large companies aren't paid that much more than policemen.