Job losses keep going and going . . .
Pretty much any way you look at it, we're in the worst job market this country has seen in 26 years. The unemployment rate hit 10.2% in October, and silver linings are hard to find. Steve Henn reports.
Mary Diaz, left, and Gina Felix look for work at a job fair Nov. 5, 2009 in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
More on The Economy, Jobs, America's Financial Crisis
TEXT OF STORY
KAI RYSSDAL:It's the 6th of November, which makes it 23 months since the recession officially started. The folks who set the that date, the National Bureau of Economic Research, they picked it in part because December of '07 was the last month in which this economy had a net gain in employment. Since then we've lost 8.5 million jobs, including 190,000 in October. The unemployment rate hit 10.2 percent last month. Pretty much any way you slice it, this is the worst job market this country has seen in 26 years.
Marketplace's Steve Henn reports the silver linings are hard to find.
Steve Henn: In October, American employers eliminated 190,000 jobs. Not good, at all. But compare that with the rate that the U.S. economy was shedding jobs six months ago and this is a sea change.
John Silvia: Definitely, definitely. If you look at the data over the last three months compared to the last year, clearly the job losses are getting smaller and some sectors like education and health are actually adding jobs.
John Silvia is chief economist at Wells Fargo. But Silvia was still surprised by the big jump last month in the unemployment rate.
Silvia: It does suggest that there's a lot more structural challenges out there in terms of job creation in the U.S. economy than I think many people expected.
Silvia worries that economic growth alone may not put millions of Americans back to work. That some jobs in construction or manufacturing may not come back.
Silvia: So there seems to be a big mismatch of skills in American society for the jobs that are available.
A construction worker for example can't just jump into a job in health care. Dean Baker's at the Center for Economic Policy Research.
Dean Baker: What that means is we are probably going to continue to see the unemployment rate rise further. And the really discouraging part is we're probably not going to see the unemployment rate start to come down till as soon as next summer. So we are looking at a pretty bad story there.
Baker says the one bright spot is that firms added 44,000 temporary workers last month. But so far there's no sign they are going to make those employees permanent any time soon.
In Washington, I'm Steve Henn for Marketplace.
Comments
Comment | Refresh
From FL, 11/07/2009
http://www.how-to-survive-the-crisis.com/
From Cheyenne, WY, 11/06/2009
Kai - On Friday, I gasped when an
"expert" you had on Marketplace said some (or many) of the 10 million unemployed are now working for themselves and you didn't ask how many of them are doing that while drawing unempoyment checks.
For the last 11 years (I'm retired) I've
averaged 40,000 miles a year by car around all the 48 continental States and I know there are so many men and women who work full or part time "off the books."
Yes, many of them are drawing unemployment checks while doing so.
Hey, those many thousands of firefighters who "do duty" 24 hours a day 2 or 3 days a week have for decades have had second "off the books" jobs.
Speak with some IRS folk in the LA area on the matter. Of course you won't be able to quote them.
From Sierra Madre, CA, 11/06/2009
I think an important aspect of the unemployment rate which is being overlooked is the idea of "underemployment," which has no measurement in labor statistics. Since my layoff in March of 2008, I have been steadlily looking for work. I have been taking temporary assignments for over a year, but typically they last for two to six weeks. The lapse in assignments sometimes lasts a month or longer. I have received unemployment benefits during those lapses, which I am sure translates into statistics on joblessness. However, I am not fully unemployed. I do work, just not with the regularity and consistency which would help me and my family keep our financial heads above water.
Don't get me wrong, I am grateful to be working, even on a temporary basis. I know it's a good situation for employers to get a feel for an potential employee, and I admit it's a good way to see if I am capable of doing the work that is being asked of me. Furthermore, I have begun to develop business relationships by landing repeat assignments for the same business units. The problem I see, as Steve Henn alluded to, is that employers are not moving to make temporary workers part of their permanent workforce.
The effect of fiscal instability in my family's finances, and the feeling of uncertainty whether I will work from one week to the next are making it difficult for me to help drive our consumer based economy towards better days.
Post a Comment: Please be civil, brief and relevant.
Email addresses are never displayed, but they are required to confirm your comments. All comments are moderated. Marketplace reserves the right to edit any comments on this site and to read them on the air if they are extra-interesting. Please read the Comment Guidelines before posting.
You must be 13 or over to submit information to American Public Media. The information entered into this form will not be used to send unsolicited email and will not be sold to a third party. For more information see Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy.