Great news at face value. Reading the job report, I find:
By Daniel at 7 August, 2009, 9:19 am
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The number of “long-term unemployed”, i.e. over 27 weeks INCREASED by 716,000 from June to July and now stands at 4,934,000 which is just about 3X the July 2008 figure.
Then there’s this :
“About 2.3 million persons were marginally attached to the labor force
in July, 709,000 more than a year earlier. (The data are not seasonally
adjusted.) These individuals, who were not in the labor force, wanted
and were available for work and had looked for a job sometime in the
prior 12 months. They were not counted as unemployed because they had
not searched for work in the 4 weeks preceding the survey. (See
table A-13.)
Among the marginally attached, there were 796,000 discouraged workers
in July, up by 335,000 over the past 12 months. (The data are not
seasonally adjusted.) Discouraged workers are persons not currently
looking for work because they believe no jobs are available for them.
The other 1.5 million persons marginally attached to the labor force
in July had not searched for work in the 4 weeks preceding the survey
for reasons such as school attendance or family responsibilities.”
Party on….pass the green shoots and pour me a nice tall koolaid.
P.S. - I am sorry to say I know quite a few “long-term unemployed” who
have relentlessly tried to find comparable jobs. Some are now heading
to the “discouraged” category and others are working on Plan B. I’ve seen
nothing like this before. These are people ranging from clerical to upper
management and with skilled backgrounds and higher education. I also know
blue collar buddies who are constantly facing one-two-three day layoffs.
Long term unemployed increased by half a million. In spite of increasing job losses, official gov unemployment rate declines to 9.4%? Workers are dropping out of the system.
Make no mistake. This is no average recession and it’s fantasy to think it’s
going to turn around suddenly.
Vasco
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
No comments yet.