Unemployment at 10%: Yay?

If you read the whole Bureau of Labor Statistics report, this change to 10% is no cause for celebration. Unemployment stretches are getting longer: the number of people unemployed for 27 weeks or more has gone up to 38% of all unemployed, for instance. The number of discouraged workers also increased. Discouraged workers are not counted as unemployed because they’re not in the labor force. They still don’t have jobs and they still face all the terrors of unemployment, they’re just not counted as unemployed because they’re not actively looking for work.

So, yes, unemployment went down. But, no, the number of people with jobs did not increase. My condolences to the jobless. It’s not your fault.

3 thoughts on “Unemployment at 10%: Yay?

  1. David Liou

    Firstly, why are Asians mentioned in a separate sentence?
    And
    Secondly, what is the real unemployment rate?

  2. Matthew Wong

    So what you are saying, is that there are more discouraged workers, therefore, they are not looking for jobs because they have given up??
    That is why unemployment is decreasing, because people are giving up, and not looking for jobs, but there is not an increase in jobs…. correct?

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