Unemployment

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Menstuff® has compiled the following information on unemployment.

Older, Wiser, Less Employed
Over 10,400,000 American's Out-of-Work
Unemployment Rises to 6 Percent
Unemployment
Persons not in the labor force

Older, Wiser, Less Employed

Displacement rates for workers with a tenure of three or more years:

Unemployment Rises to 6 Percent

The rate was up two-tenths of a percentage point from March, with payrolls falling by 48,000, the Labor Department reported Friday.

The bottom line: Employers are handing out pink slips, not job offers, and that's not likely to change soon. April's job losses were the third in a row, which never occurs outside of recessions.

In April, the number of unemployed workers surged to 8.8 million, with almost 2 million without jobs for 27 weeks or more. The average duration of unemployment shot up to 19.6 weeks - a 20-year high.

Bush wants Congress to pass at least $550 billion in tax cuts, including slashing taxes on corporate dividends, as a way to jump start the economy. Even if it passes, unemployment could continue to climb through the summer because any improvements in the economy would take time to trickle down into hiring.

But support for the package is tepid, and Democrats say a better way to stimulate the economy is to extend unemployment benefits a second time. The current extension expires at the end of the month, which will cut off benefits for millions of jobless workers.

Even before the war, businesses were wary about making big spending and hiring commitments in a struggling economy. A healthy economy typically adds 200,000 to 250,000 new jobs each month. It could be a long time before those days return.

Over 10,400,000 American's Out-of-Work

With the country now on the verge of war with Iraq, the overall civilian jobless rate climbed a tenth of a percentage point from the 5.7 percent figure recorded in January, the Labor Department reported Friday.

Economists had predicted the modest rise, but they did not expect the hemorrhaging of jobs that wiped out large hiring gains the month before. Analysts actually had forecast job gains of 20,000.

Instead, employers last month shed the most jobs since November 2001, when they purged 327,000 from their payrolls following the attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon. Nearly 2 million jobs have been lost since hiring peaked in March 2001. In February alone, 8.5 million people were unemployed, a 2.8 million increase since the fall of 2000.

The number of long-term jobless tripled during this period. About 1.9 million people have been jobless for 27 weeks or more, comprising 22 percent of total unemployment.

Job losses in February were widespread. The nation's factories were hit particularly hard last month, which was not unexpected. Manufacturing employment has been obliterated since April 1998 and some 2.5 million jobs have been lost, most of them since the recession started in March 2001.

A sharp in construction employment wiped out gains in January. Since the recession began, construction jobs have been cut by 3.8 percent, substantially less than in other industries.

Employment in services fell by 86,000 last month, the largest monthly job loss since the fall of 2001. In that category, stores, restaurants and bars accounted for most of the decline. Hiring in amusement and recreation services, and at hotels and lodging places, all fell considerably short of their normal February levels.

The health care industry, one where growth has been consistent, again added jobs last month, although the increase was the smallest since 1999.

Hiring also continued in mortgage banking, which has added 122,000 jobs since January 2001. That reflects a mortgage refinancing spree and general strength in the housing market - one of the few bright spots in the economy.

Unemployment

The number of unemployed persons, 8.4 million, was unchanged in March, and the unemployment rate remained at 5.8 percent. Unemployment rates for the major worker groups--adult men (5.3 percent), adult women (5.0 percent), teenagers (17.7 percent), whites (5.1 percent), blacks or African Americans (10.2 percent), and Hispanics or Latinos (7.5 percent)--showed little or no change in March. The unemployment rate for Asians was 6.5 percent, not seasonally adjusted. About 1 in 5 unemployed persons had been without a job for 27 weeks or longer. (See tables A-3, A-4, A-12, and A-13.)

Persons not in the labor force

In March, 1.6 million persons were marginally attached to the labor force, compared with 1.4 million a year earlier. These individuals wanted and were available to work and had looked for a job sometime in the prior 12 months. They were not counted as unemployed, however, because they did not actively search for work in the 4 weeks preceding the survey. There were 474,000 discouraged workers in March, up from 330,000 a year ago. Discouraged workers, a subset of the marginally attached, were not currently looking for work specifically because they believed no jobs were available for them.

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A man willing to work, and unable to find work, is perhaps the saddest sight that fortune's inequality exhibits under this sun. - Thomas Carlyle

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