Posted on 01/11/2013 3:34:10 PM PST by SeekAndFind
Employers may be hiring, but there's another big problem with the job market that isn't being tracked as closely: the hopelessly unemployed.
An often overlooked number calculated by the Labor Department shows millions of Americans want a job but haven't searched for one in at least a year. They've simply given up hope.
They're not counted as part of the labor force, the official unemployment rate, or the category the Labor Department refers to as "discouraged workers" -- those who haven't bothered to look for work in the last four weeks.
These hopelessly unemployed workers have just been jobless so long, they've fallen off the main government measures altogether.
"The way we're measuring the long-term unemployed has a lot of holes in it," said Stephen Bronars, senior economist for Welch Consulting. "A person can be discouraged for a while, but then gets bumped over into this other category."
The Labor Department started tracking this group in 1994, but it doesn't get much attention. Recently, it has started growing more rapidly than usual, even as other job measures have shown improvement.
Five years ago, before the recession began, about 2.5 million people said they wanted a job but hadn't searched for one in at least a year. Now, that number is around 3.25 million.
"We have always had a set of people who want a job but for whatever reason are not looking," said Heidi Shierholz, economist with the Economic Policy Institute. "But this recession was so severe and job opportunities are still so weak, this group is growing because of that."
Who are the hopelessly unemployed?
"It's hard to say exactly who these people might be," Bronars said. That's because they say they want to work, but also say they aren't looking. The questioning doesn't go much deeper than that.
(Excerpt) Read more at money.cnn.com ...
I’ve been working since I was 14, have always been able to find a job - never spent longer than 30 days without a job, and I’m pushing 60. What does a person do, who’s unemployed? Are Gov’t benefits so good you don’t need a job? Series question.
This is just one of the groups that an ambitious, articulate, forward-thinking GOP presidential aspirant ought to be listening to, talking to, and winning the support of well in advance of the next election, starting like ... now! And he or she should being doing this in all 50 states. And while he/she is in those states, go into the non-traditional areas for Republicans in order to craft policies formulated from conservative principles that appeals to and actually benefits the nation both as a whole and as individuals. He/she should engage groups that have heard only the DemocRats to this point, and both listen and talk. He/she should be seeking to gain some degree real cred and trust before the politics-of-personal-destruction machine (i.e., the David Axelrodent school of divide and conquer no matter what long-term damage it does to civility and citizenship in our nation) gets too busy.
Then the candidate would not have to hire any of the Eric Ferhnstrom, beltway elite, echo chamber types, because he/she would have a base that the party elite simply would not have or be able to get without him/her. In other words, the candidate should seek to be a uniter with constitutional principles, which would be a total contrast to the current Divider-in-Chief whose principles, if he has any, are anti-constitutional.
I live across the street from one. He always says he needs to make money to pay his bills but nothing ever happens. I outlined close to a grand of work he can do for me. Can do it myself but thought it a nice gesture to help him out. No response. His union and our tax dollars hook him up. Nicest guy in the world but a lazy, leaching POS.
Bump.
Excellent categorization.
I interview these folks every week. Most of them fall into category 2. Greedy bastards who feel they are owed a lifestyle.
I’ll be 60 next year. I was laid off 2 years ago after the hospital closed down the medical transcription dept. and sent our jobs to India. I’m now in a govt. retraining program and I hope to rejoin the workforce this summer, although at my age I know it’ll be difficult. Good luck to you guys.
So very true. I've been there and it's a very hopeless feeling. I was very lucky to have family to help me out. That, and the fact that my divorce had stripped me of most large assets , allowed me to take menial jobs till I could retrain in a new career .
Just cut off their unemployment benefits and see how long it takes them to find a job.
Extend unemployment benefits for years and years and you get what you pay for... chronically unemployed people.
I don't feel too bad about a solid working citizen getting disability....its the 30 and 40 yr olds that haven't worked much and getting it for "stress" or "alcholism" or a sore back....
the new reality:..if you've played the game the right way and still lost, than at least make them pay you...
Thank you for saying that. Happened to me. I was lured away from a huge tech company to take a VP position, laid off 4 months later when the economy cratered (Nov. ‘08). Four months.
It took me 2 1/2 years to find another job. I’ve worked since I was 14, and I’m 57. I’ve never been out of work that long in my life. God knows I tried. I couldn’t buy an interview. I dumbed down what is considered to be a rather impressive resume’. Tried it all.
Finally landed a new position, in my old field, and it was the best paying job I ever had.
Point is......you never give up. What kept me going were the following words that I said to someone, and it just stuck....even if I don’t know where the words came from: “The Good Lord didn’t bring me this far to hang me out to dry.”
He didn’t. Hang in there with Him; He certainly will hang in there with you.
bttt
I don't have to imagine it. I'll be 56 in March, after being laid off in November 2008. And, no, I'm not on the dole, either. Some areas of the world still have functioning extended families or pseudo-families, and I do my part for the tribe.
It takes a determined, conscious effort nearly every moment to remind myself that Christians are forbidden to despair.
It's also a pretty good idea to watch as little commercial television as possible and to steer clear of alcohol.
Prayer is a first resort, not the last, as is seeking out anyone truly worse off, which is not very difficult.
God does not owe us any explanations.
Many who are, or were, near and dear are rationalizing self-destruction, in whole or in part, and some in the same boat... well...
Think of the survivors of the U.S.S. Indianapolis, floating along in those shark infested waters... add a slug line from one of those 70's disaster movies... "Who will survive?"
That my friend is beautiful!
Glad it worked out. Something similar happened to one of my daughters in NYC. She left a firm that didn’t properly value her work for another, where she got double the pay. But that firm finally went belly up. Then she got another job, and THAT firm collapsed. She recently finished a month-long temp job before Christmas. Now she has a job interview coming up, with at least some hope. But things can be very tough. And not for want of trying.
Thank you for posting that. The last two paragraphs are both true and beautiful and could only have been written by someone who has “been there”.
You made my day with your post. I wish you well.
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