Grim Unemployment Stats Are Trending Long
By SusanUnPC on April 23, 2009 at 1:15 PM in American Consumers, Economy, Unemployment
John McLaughlin has disturbing facts on unemployment. From his PBS show:
… Four-point-four million jobs have disappeared since this recession began 15 months ago. That’s about 10,000 job losses every day — an apocalyptic rate. The result was the highest unemployment rate in 25 years, now over 8 percent.
Some economists say the unemployment is a permanent shift. Quote: “These jobs aren’t coming back. [More below.]
I hope you all caught Uppity Woman’s “Only 610,000 people filed for unemployment last week. Things must be better.” She has such a gift for irony, eh?
I listened to today’s American Morning discussion on unemployment: “615,000 to 640,000 a week … month after month … the equivalent of the entire populations of Baltimore or El Paso or Milwaukee.” Despite the slight uptick noted by Uppity (tongue-in-cheek), longterm projections matter. Fox Business channel‘s Brian Sullivan discovered astonishing trends at the Web site of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. (The current recession began in December 2007.)
Sullivan emphasizes that, compared to other recessions, one must look at the PACE of the decline.
Our recession, in comparison to others, large and small, is beginning to outpace them all. This recession will be the worst, in terms of job loss, of any recession except for World War II.
If you want to play with this chart, and view other great materials at the Minneapolis Fed, go to their Web site, where there are all kinds of charts you can bring up. Here are more “fun” charts — and NOTE that the last chart is interactive.
Using the interactive chart, compare your state’s unemployment numbers to other states.
So much for that “glimmer,” PBO. Eh? We people know the difference between “bling” and the good stuff. “All that shines is not gold.”
For more of today’s news on unemployment, check out “New Jobless Claims Rise More Than Unexpected, as 6 Million Seek Benefits.”
Here’s more from The McLaughlin Group transcript — I watch faithfully every Friday night on my local PBS station. This is grim:
McLAUGHLIN: … A lot of other production either isn’t going to happen at all or it’s going to happen somewhere other than the United States. There are going to be fewer stores, fewer factories, fewer financial services operations,” unquote.
So the reality is bleak, and so is the outlook. Probably nothing has hurt the American dream more than this job outlook. The MetLife study says 75 percent of Americans have either lost their job or have a friend, neighbor or relative who has been laid off. Sixty percent say they fear sudden unemployment would mean filing for bankruptcy. Fifty percent say they couldn’t support themselves for more than a month without a paycheck.
This job loss terror is not only felt by low wage-earners. Get this: Of Americans earning more than $100,000 a year, 53 percent say that their financial stability would be at risk if they lost their job. …
[...]… This job loss terror is not only felt by low wage-earners. Get this: Of Americans earning more than $100,000 a year, 53 percent say that their financial stability would be at risk if they lost their job.
Beth, do you want to expand on this?
MS. HIRSCHHORN: Sure. Americans told us that one month into being without a job means that they are headed for financial ruin, and 28 percent say two weeks is all the time that they have.
MR. BUCHANAN: Two weeks? That’s not a lot of savings.
MS. HIRSCHHORN: Yeah, two weeks without a paycheck. There’s no safety net. People do not have any cash reserves. That’s why, even though you want everybody to spend more –
MR. BUCHANAN: I don’t want them to spend more. Obama does. (Laughs.)
MS. CLIFT: It’s not an ordinary downturn. A lot of these jobs are not coming back. But there’s $80 billion in the stimulus package for the new green economy, and that’s going to create jobs in the economy of tomorrow.
MR. BUCHANAN: Near a bus line, hopefully. (Laughs.)
MS. CLIFT: Hopefully.
MS. CROWLEY: One of the positive trends –
MS. CLIFT: Rapid rail.
MS. CROWLEY: — coming out of this crisis is that people are actually saving. The savings rate in America is going straight up.
DR. MCLAUGHLIN: Let’s be very tight with this. Exit question: Are we witnessing the beginning of the end of American power? Is this the twilight of the American experiment? Yes or no. Pat Buchanan.
MR. BUCHANAN: The American empire is clearly receding. It’s not over, but it’s receding.
by Ronald Scott
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