HuffPost’s Real Misery Index: Nearly One In Six Americans Are Jobless Or Underemployed
by Marcus BaramLink to article
This is an excerpt from the Huffington Post. Click on link to read entire article.
“The rise in unemployment continues to devastate Americans, according to the latest update of the Huffington Post Real Misery Index.
The index rose to 32.9 after peaking at 32.3 in August, largely due to the increase in the U6 unemployment rate, which tracks part-time workers looking for full-time employment and those who’ve given up looking for work. Almost one in six Americans are jobless or underemployed and the economy has lost 7.3 million jobs since the recession began in December 2007, according to the latest numbers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The index would be even higher were it not for a few bright spots in the economy, such as no annual percent increase in food and beverage prices and a slight uptick in housing prices.
The states with the highest underemployment rates through the third quarter of this year were Michigan (20.9 percent), Oregon (20.1 percent), California (19.6 percent) and South Carolina (18.4 percent).
And the numbers threaten to go higher with some economists predicting a 13% unemployment rate — a post-World War II high — in the aftermath of the recession. …”
Tags: huffington post real misery index, rising unemployment, U6 unemployment rate
November 16th, 2009 at 11:54 am
I realize economists always insist that jobs are the last to recover in an economic downturn. Regardless, I think it’s absurd that so many “experts” claim the recession is over. For whom? If the unemployment rate goes up to 13%, how could anyone claim we’re on the rebound?
November 30th, 2009 at 4:56 pm
Jobs are an agreed upon illusion. Given that so many people find employment through agencies where the contract is of indeterminate length how can these types of employment be figured into the statistics? It might be six months and they extend you to nine then let you go. It could be temp-to-hire and they change their mind abour bringing you on full time “perm” blaming the economy, when any planning or stategy on their part was already illusory. You are in the door or you are not and there are millions just on the threshold waiting for a turn that may never come. Not many aspire to be perma-temp but that is what they get.