Duration of Unemployment September 2011 Increased 4.96%

The September unemployment report is yet another disappointment, with not enough jobs to keep up with population growth. The jobs situation has been dismal for 45 months. Now we have a new record, the average duration of time being unemployed is at record highs for as long as the BLS has kept track, 1948. Below is the graph, which looks like a time bomb.

 

average duration unemployment

 

The average time being unemployed just increased to 40.5 weeks, a 4.96% increase in time from last month. That's 9.4 months.

People unemployed for 27 weeks or more is now 44.6% of the total unemployed, or 6,242,000 million. This is 4.1% of the labor force who have been out of a job over 6 months and a 3.3% increase from August.

 

 

The below graph is the median time for being unemployed over the last 20 years. This means half, or 50% of the people unemployed, found a new job in this amount of time. Look at the pathetic dramatic increase. This month the median duration, or half, to be out of work increased 0.4 to 22.2 weeks. That means there is overall lost income by being out of work longer and we haven't even discussed how the new jobs are paying way less and most of the jobs being created are low paying jobs.

There is a vast deviation from the average and the median duration of unemployment. This means there are huge percentages of the unemployed who simply cannot get a break, being out of work for 2, 3, 4 years and cannot land a damn job.

 

 

Below is a graph, courtesy of the Saint Louis Federal Reserve, for the unemployment rate of just those unemployed 15 weeks or longer. 59.5% of the people who are officially counted as unemployed have been so 15 weeks or longer. The number of people unemployed 15 weeks or longer is 8,328,000 or as part of the civilian labor force, 5.4%. Compare this to the official 9.1% unemployment rate. This means that it takes most people who are unemployed almost 4 months or more to find a job...if they do.

 

 

There are 2,772,000 people who are unemployed for less than 5 weeks in September. Only 19.8% of those unemployed have been so for 5 weeks or less.

 

 

There is one element in Obama's jobs bill to stop discrimination against the unemployed. Considering how long people are out of work, we must outlaw employers refusing to hire them, simply because they need a job.

Subject Meta: 

Forum Categories: