Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Real Unemployment (U6)

The U6 unemployment rate counts not only people without work seeking full-time employment (the more familiar U-3 rate), but also counts "marginally attached workers and those working part-time for economic reasons." Note that some of these part-time workers counted as employed by U-3 could be working as little as an hour a week. And the "marginally attached workers" include those who have gotten discouraged and stopped looking, but still want to work.

The U6 rate shows over 16% seasonally adjusted unemployment in June, greater than any recession since the Great Depression.

Shadowstats.com has a third rate that they have put together that shows unemployment at over 20%.

Chart of U.S. Unemployment

Under the regular unemployment rate (U-3):
Some groups of workers [face] official unemployment rates in the double digits. As of May, unemployment rates for black, Hispanic, and teenage workers were already 14.9%, 12.7% and 22.7%, respectively. Workers without a high-school diploma confronted a 15.5% unemployment rate, while the unemployment rate for workers with just a high-school degree was 10.0%. Nearly one in five (19.2%) construction workers were unemployed. In Michigan, the hardest hit state, unemployment was at 12.9% in April. Unemployment rates in seven other states were at double-digit levels as well.
Consider this. These are the U-3 rates. The U-6 versions of these rates, likely at least double the U-3 rates for those on the bottom (since things always get worse faster for those on the bottom), mean that teenagers have an unemployment rate of nearly 50%, and teens of color are likely higher, and teens of color in the inner-city are likely higher than that.

The standard unemployment rates hide the unemployment holocaust that has been going on for years within low-income communities of color.

6 comments:

Ares Vista said...

This situation just gets worse every day. Clearly, the American people must dig themselves out of this hole, we can't depend on our government to do it. We've become so accustomed to our way of life that we probably won't want to give up the lifestyles we live in order to save our country. We feel entitled to the way of life we have, and that will be the main cause of the downfall of the nation.

download music said...

How can we even trust the numbers that are being thrown at us? Personally, I don't trust anyone anymore. We need some serious leadership if we are to recover from this depression.

TC Martin said...

Ares Vista, your right we can't depend on our govenment...ok we can depend on the government to make things worse by passing bogus legislation like the "Stimulus" which is doing exactly what it is intended to do...destroy capitalism, specifically the US economy. When the government creates the "Crisis" then holds themselves out as the only ones who can save us if we just spend gobs of money we don't have and if you give up more of your freedom. Ditto with the so called Health Care Reform...it will not reform anything, but it will Transform the health care industry into a Government "owned" industry in which we will experience the same fate as Candada, England and even Massachussets...Rationing, long waits, denial of care. Welcome to the new Soviet States of America, Comrade Obama is now in charge.

Anonymous said...

Unemployment can surely have severe consequences for individuals and communities, but calling it a holocaust goes too far. Have a sense of decency and perspective.

teachplacejul09 said...

Even the Department of Labor's expanded unemployment measure doesn't fully capture how difficult the job market is for American workers.It doesn't look at former full-time staff employees who have accepted short-term contracts, without benefits, and at a fraction of their former salaries.

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