long term unemployed

Unemployment Not Impressive for April 2013

The BLS employment report shows the official unemployment rate ticked down 0.1 percentage point to 7.5%, and the current population survey statistics are a mixed bag of strange.   More people were employed, yet the number of people stuck in part-time jobs continues to increase.  The labor participation rate stayed at the same May 1979 record low.   U-6, a broader measure of unemployment, ticked up 0.1 percentage point to 13.9%.

The Terrible Unemployment Figures of March 2013

The BLS employment report shows the official unemployment rate ticked down 0.1 percentage point to 7.6%, but not because people gained employment.  Instead the unemployment rate dropped due to less people participating in the labor market.  The labor participation rate just hit a record low, not seen since May 1979 when many segments of the population was still quite discriminated against in the workforce.   One cannot just blame retiring baby boomers for low labor participation rates  This article overviews and graphs the statistics from the Current Population Survey of the employment report.

Unemployment Rate 7.7% for February 2013, Long Term Unemployed Increased

The BLS employment report shows the official unemployment rate ticked down 0.2 percentage points to 7.7%.  While many cheer this report as a sign of recovery, the actual details are fairly ho hum.  This article overviews and graphs the statistics from the Current Population Survey of the employment report and the below graph shows how far off we are from 2008.   Don't let some fool you into thinking the job crisis is all over, it's not, not by a long shot.

Unemployment Rate 7.8% and Unemployed Duration Drops for December 2012

The BLS employment report shows a 7.8% unemployment rate for December. November was revised up from a 7.7% to 7.8% unemployment rate, but due to a change in the BLS annual seasonal adjustment revisions. This article overviews the statistics from the Current Population Survey of the employment report and the words to describe December are little change.

 

Initial Unemployment Claims 361,000 While Over 2 Million to Lose Benefits for Week of December 15th, 2012

The DOL reported Initial weekly unemployment claims for the week ending on December 15th, 2012 were 361,000, a 17,000 increase from the previous week of 344,000. Superstorm Sandy's devastating effects should be normalizing out by now, so this is a troubling increase in initial unemployment filings.

 

Unemployment Rate 7.7% Due to Less People in the Labor Force for November 2012

The BLS employment report shows the unemployment rate ticked down by 0.2 percentage points to 7.7%. The reason for the unemployment rate decrease is less people participated in the labor force in November. Superstorm Sandy had little effect on the monthly employment figures.

Current Population Survey Employment Report in Graphs, Unemployment Rate 7.9% for October 2012

The BLS employment report shows the unemployment rate ticked up by 0.1 percentage points to 7.9%. The reason for this up-tick is more people participated in the labor force in October. We love economic eye candy at The Economic Populist and this overview graphs many of the statistics from the Current Population Survey of the employment report.

 

Displaced Worker Report Shows Not Enough People Are Landing New Jobs

The BLS released their displaced workers survey and the results paint a dark and foreboding picture for the American worker. Of the people who lost their jobs through offshore outsourcing, plant closures, business failures and layoffs during 2009-2011, by January 2012 only 56% of them had gotten another job. These are people who held the job they lost three years or longer and there were a whopping 6.12 million people in this category.

What's more disturbing, as if that's not enough, is the age breakdown of displaced workers who were in a job three years or longer. While the job losses seem reasonably evenly distributed, those finding other jobs appear not to be, as shown in the below four pie charts.

displacedworkersage

More Depressing Unemployment Statistics for May 2012

The May employment report was dismal. This overview shows the situation is even worse than dismal, it is depressing in more ways than one. Officially there are 12.72 million people unemployed and the unemployment rate is 8.2%. We calculate below an alternative unemployment rate of 16.8%, which shows 27.11 million people need a full-time, real job.

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