Posted on 01/10/2004 4:11:54 AM PST by RaceBannon
Job Searches in 2003 the Longest in 20 Years Fri January 9, 2004 03:45 PM ET
By Jonathan Nicholson WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The year 2003 was the most difficult for U.S. job hunters since 1983, as they faced the gloomiest job market in years, according to Labor Department figures released on Friday.
The unemployment rate was the highest since 1994, and the search for a new job was the longest in two decades.
According to Labor Department data, the average spell of unemployment lasted 19.2 weeks in 2003, or almost five months. That was the longest average duration since 1983, when the U.S. economy was emerging from the worst recession since the Depression. Then the average spell was 20.0 weeks.
As a percentage of all the unemployed, the long-term jobless -- those out of work for 27 weeks or more -- made up 22.1 percent in 2003, the highest annual number since 23.9 percent in 1983.
Democrats have called for renewing a federally-funded extension of unemployment benefits offered through states to deal with the problem. They revived their attacks on Friday after a weaker-than-expected jobs report showed only 1,000 new hires in December. Measures of long-term joblessness improved slightly in the month, though.
While Bush administration officials have continually repeated that they will not be satisfied "until every American who wants a job can get one," it has yet to support a renewal of extended benefits, a move many economists say would help blunt the economic damage of the rise in long-term unemployment.
In early December, Treasury Secretary John Snow told Reuters the administration had yet to decide if it would support extending the program for a third time.
According to the liberal-leaning Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, about 80,000 to 90,000 workers will be exhausting their state-funded benefits every week by late January, after the program's eligibility ended in December.
"Unemployment is the Achilles' heel of this administration and Congressional Republicans, and they cannot continue to ignore it," said House Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer, of Maryland.
Lee Price, an economist with the Economic Policy Institute and a former Clinton-era Commerce Department official, said the long-term jobless numbers show how difficult the labor market remains.
Extending jobless benefits again would stimulate the economy by putting money in the pockets of people not getting paychecks, Price said. "Almost 100 percent of that is going to be spent," he said.
© Reuters 2004. All Rights Reserved.
"The profile of the hardest hit:
Age > 40 years. Occupation: Technical Education: BS+ Engineering "
Indeed. And that's me.
37 years old, previously the senior research analyst at an artificial intelligence software/consulting company. Company now bankrupt. I've been looking from coast to coast since August of 2000. Yes, 2000. I even looked into other countries (ie, Canada, Ireland). Superb references to offer, a sterling resume, top notch credit history, no criminal record, etc, etc.
So, I became a realtor. Haven't made a living at it after a year now. Hard business to start up and develop a reputation, even working for one of the local "800 lb. Gorillas" in the industry. (To state the rather obvious: real estate is indeed a reputation based business. If you are thinking of it, I highly recommend becoming extremely social with the peer group you wish to target and expect about a 1 to 1.5 year lead time.)
I'm now looking for convenience store work, Wal-Mart, etc.
Talked to a friend of a friend who put me in touch with a real, living human being "HR manager" at a large bank. She told me that as of this week, they are maintaining 1600 jobs that are open for placement, and 40,000 resumes. Obviously, only a smattering get read. The jobs go to the inside networked contacts first, then people like myself who are lucky enough to get a manager on the phone, and lastly, to the huge number of qualified applicants.
I'm going to likely finger my way through my "black book", make the calls, and assemble all of my unemployed programmer/analyst/CIO friends together and start a new company.
Anyone care to chat on the subject?
Yes, it is rapidly approaching that point.
I STILL maintain that Bushco's so-called "lock" on reelection is a myth...especially since he committed an "IDENTITY LEVEL" Values Violation with his "Amnesty Lite" program.
Contrast this with Eisenhower's "Operation Wetback" [don't ZOT...that was the official AND legal name for it]...He put a Multijurisdictional Task Force [including MILITARY Units] on the border...deported in excess of ONE MILLION Illegals in just ONE year!!!
In my mind, Bushco will be back at his beloved "Crawford" ranch about 4 PM January 20, 2005.
And H*LL Will Freeze Over before ANYTHING LIKE THIS is attempted again!!!
Look at the States he lost or won by 10,000 votes or less...[we all know he lost the popular vote]...his neglect to the Home Front is appalling.
I'm not sure he can be reelected, especially if this new batch of charges that even before 9-11 he was fixin' to "DO" Iraq sticks.
With a lot of beer and pizza rolls.
With the numbers of now unemployed, and with the absence of the gun issue(the democrats wont discuss gun control this year), all the close states will probably go to Dean instead of bush. I dont think bush will be the first president in history who lost the popular vote to get re-elected.
Bush will run on his record:
massive federal budget deficit,
massive balance of trade deficit,
falling US dollar,
millions of jobless,
war,
factories moving out of the United States,
terrorism a household word and terror alerts every day since bush got elected,
loss of world respect,
the illegal immigrants he wants to give jobs and social security and citizenship to, etc.
I could run against bush's record and win the election. If I can win, so can any democrat.
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