JUNE 2011 UNEMPLOYMENT DATA*
(U.S. BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS)
OFFICIAL UNEMPLOYMENT: 9.2%
A year earlier, the number of unemployed persons was 14.6
million, and the jobless rate was 9.5 percent. [BLS]
| White |
8.1%
|
| African American |
16.2%
|
| Hispanic |
11.6%
|
| Asian** | 6.8% |
| Persons with a disability ** |
16.9%
|
| Men 20 years and over |
9.1%
|
| Women 20 years and over |
8.0%
|
| Teens (16-19 years) |
24.5%
|
| Black teens |
39.9%
|
| Officially unemployed |
14.1 million
|
HIDDEN UNEMPLOYMENT
| Working part-time because can’t find a full-time job: | 8.6 million |
| People who want jobs but are not looking so are not counted in official statistics (of which about 2.7 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 April, 2011, the latest month available, the number of job openings was 3.0 million, “little changed from 3.1 million in March. After increasing in February, job openings have been flat. Job openings have been around 3.0 million for three consecutive months; the last three-month period with levels this high was September—November 2008. The number of job openings was 549,000 higher than at the end of the recession in June 2009 (as designated by the National Bureau of Economic Research) but remains well below the 4.4 million openings when the recession began in December 2007.” Job Openings and Labor Turnover Estimates, June 7, 2011.+ Thus there are now more than 9 job-wanters for each available job.
Source: http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/labor/news/2011/01/07/8849/employment-growth-continues-but-too-slowly-to-secure-recovery/
Employment-population ratio 1/1948 to 5/2011
http://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/series/EMRATIO
Mass layoffs: 5/11 first quarter 2011 Employers initiated 1,397 mass layoff events in the first quarter of 2011 that resulted in the separation of 190,895 workers from their jobs for at least 31 days, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Extended mass layoff events and separations have decreased over the year for six consecutive quarters. …. Forty-nine percent of employers expected to recall at least some laid-off workers, the highest first quarter percentage since 2005 and up from 38 percent in 2010.
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 April (not seasonally adjusted) increased from 12 months earlier for total private, four industries, and in the Midwest region. The level decreased over the year for other services, government, and federal government. Over-the-year comparisons for federal government in April are impacted, in part, by the large number of job openings for temporary workers to conduct the 2010 Census.“