Unemployment spikes in March
From the National Jobs for All Coalition
MARCH 2009 UNEMPLOYMENT DATA*
(U.S. BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS)
OFFICIAL UNEMPLOYMENT: 8.5% [Analysis]
A year earlier, the number of unemployed persons was 7.8
million, and the jobless rate was 5.1 percent. [BLS]
| White | 7.9% |
| African American | 13.3% |
| Hispanic | 11.4% |
| Asian** | 6.4% |
| Men 20 years and over | 8.8% |
| Women 20 years and over | 7.0% |
| Teen-agers (16-19 years) | 21.7% |
| Black teens | 32.5% |
| Officially unemployed | 13.2 million |
HIDDEN UNEMPLOYMENT
| Working part-time because can't find a full-time job: | 9.0 million |
| People who want jobs but are not looking are not counted in official statistics (of which about 2.1 million** searched for work during the prior 12 months and were available for work during the reference week.) | 5.8 million |
| | |
In addition, millions more were working full-time, year-round, yet earned less than the official poverty level for a family of four. In 2007, the latest year available, that number was 17.6 million, 16.2 percent of full-time workers (estimated from Current Population Survey, Bur. of the Census, 2008).
In February, 2009, the latest month available, the number of job openings was only 3.0 million, according to the BLS, Job Openings and Labor Turnover Estimates, April 7, 2009.+ Thus there are more than 9 job-wanters for each available job.
[Numbers are not comparable with previous months as methods have been revised.]
Read rest of article
0 comments:
Post a Comment