Jobs – a key component
Unemployment continues to be a central concern in the economic quagmire that has plagued the U.S. and several other countries in the past couple of years. The real numbers are startling when you factor in the thousands who have just given up on searching for work.
According to a January 7, 2011 report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the number of people employed part time for “economic reasons” (involuntary part-time workers) was 8.9 million. These are often people who are seeking, and would prefer full-time work, but who can’t find full-time work or who have had their hours cut.
For people who had not been actively searching for work, in the four weeks preceding the Labor Departments’ report, they are not included in the statistics. These can be people who have just simply given up. These would be people who were actively seeking work prior to the recent period and have not had any luck. The Labor Department puts their numbers at 2.6 million.
Is there a job for me?
The Department actually further segments people in their report who are so discouraged with their job prospects that they have completely given up any hope of finding work. This number has actually increased in the January 7th report, standing at 1.3 million.
Keep in mind that these people are not included in the unemployment numbers that you normally hear on the evening news. These are people who are either underemployed compared to where they might have been in their recent work life or they are people so discouraged with their prospects that they have thrown in the towel.
Some employment increases
The same report details an increase in non-farm payroll employment of 103,000 in December. Most of these gains were in the hospitality and leisure industry and in healthcare. Many analysts expected increases on the order of 300,000.
For the economy to really improve, these people and millions of others, need to find real, sustained work and foreclosures have to begin to abate.
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