AUGUST 2011 UNEMPLOYMENT DATA*
(U.S. BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS)
OFFICIAL UNEMPLOYMENT: 9.1%
A year earlier, the number of unemployed persons was 14.8
million, and the jobless rate was 9.6 percent. [BLS]
| White |
8.0%
|
| African American |
16.7%
|
| Hispanic |
11.3%
|
| Asian** |
7.1%
|
| Persons with a disability ** |
16.1%
|
| Men 20 years and over |
8.9.%
|
| Women 20 years and over |
8.0.%
|
| Teens (16-19 years) |
25.4%
|
| Black teens |
46.5%
|
| Officially unemployed |
14.0 million
|
HIDDEN UNEMPLOYMENT
| Working part-time because can’t find a full-time job: | 8.8 million |
| People who want jobs but are not looking so are not counted in official statistics (of which about 2.6 million** searched for work during the prior 12 months and were available for work during the reference week.) | 6.5 million |
Source: http://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/empsit.pdf
**Not seasonally adjusted.
*See Uncommon Sense #4 for an explanation of the unemployment measures.
In addition, millions more were working full-time, year-round, yet earned less than the official poverty level for a family of four. In 2009, the latest year available, that number was 16.3 million, 16.4 percent of full-time, full-year workers (estimated from Current Population Survey, Bur. of the Census, 2010).
In May, 2011, the latest month available, the number of job openings was 3.1 million, “essentially unchanged from May. Although the number of job openings in June was 997,000 higher than in July 2009 (the series trough), it has been relatively flat since February 2011 and remains well below 4.4 million openings when the recession began in December 2007.” Job Openings and Labor Turnover Estimates, August 10, 2011.+ Thus there are now more than 9 job-wanters for each available job.
Source: Center for American Progress
Employment-population ratio 1/1948 to 6/2011
The Waste [of output] by Paul Krugman August 11, 2011, blog
cumulative loss because of recession: $2.8 Tr.
Mass layoffs: In the second quarter of 2011, 1,624 extended mass layoff events involved 265,147 worker separations. Total events and worker separations have decreased over the year for seven consecutive quarters. Both events and separations in the manufacturing sector declined to series’ lows during the quarter. 8/11
Mass layoffs: Review of 2010 BLS, 2/11/11
For all of 2010, employers reported 7,158 extended mass layoff actions, affecting 1,213,638 workers. Compared to 2009, the number of events decreased by 39 percent and the number of separations decreased by 42 percent, the first over-the-year decline for both measures since 2005. The annual average national unemployment rate increased from 9.3 percent in 2009 to 9.6 percent in 2010, and private nonfarm payroll employment decreased by 0.8 percent, or 914,000.
Industry Distribution of Extended Layoffs
In the private nonfarm economy, manufacturing reported the largest number of separations, despite reaching a program low in 2010 (with annual data available back to 1996). Construction had the next highest number of separations. Educational services reported program highs in both layoff events and separations in 2010.
….
+ “The number of job openings in June (not seasonally adjusted) rose from a year earlier for total nonfarm and total private. The number of job openings increased in mining and logging, retail trade, professional and business services, and health care and social assistance. Job openings decreased over the year for federal government..”