Latest Jobs Report is Even Worse Than It Seems
If you are looking for work, the latest unemployment figures will come as no surprise. The report from the Labor Department, released last Friday, shows that the U.S. economy lost 263,000 jobs in September, and the unemployment rate edged up to 9.8 percent from 9.7 percent in August. As bad as those numbers are, when you dig into the statistics, the situation gets even worse.
More jobs were lost in September than were lost in August, as the Labor Department revised the August decline to 201,000 jobs from the 216,000 it initially reported. In addition, last month the average workweek edged down by one-tenth of an hour, to 33 hours, meaning that those who do work are not getting as many hours.
For those who are unemployed, the job market looks worse now than at any point in the recession. The number of people who have been jobless for more than six months increased in September by 450,000, reaching a whopping 5.4 million.
When you add in those workers whose hours have been reduced, and others who have become so discouraged they have stopped looking, the unemployment rate jumps to 17 percent. That is the highest level since the government began tracking “underemployment” in 1994 and is a massive number by anyone’s standards.
Can anyone say “jobless recovery”?