One Million Americans Not Looking for Work
Over a million Americans are unemployed and having given up hope of finding a job. 1.08 million Americans are officially listed as “discouraged workers”, which means that they have not looked for work in more than four weeks. They have simply given up on finding jobs until the economy recovers.
46% of those without jobs have been unemployed for more than 27 weeks — more than half a year. That length of unemployment can damage a person’s self esteem and make it very difficult for them to find employment even in a good economy.
Unfortunately, that good economy is a long way off. Richard Hastings, macro and consumer strategist at Global Hunter Securities, forecasts “”We don’t expect any substantial improvement to the labor situation at all.”
Peter Morici, professor at the University of Maryland’s Smith School of Business and former chief economist at the US International Trade Commission explains “The fact that people are sitting down indicates just how bad the market is for some categories of people.” He blames economic mismanagement on the part of the Obama administration. “By and large they don’t have a grasp of the scope of the problems, and we’re not creating that much demand for labor. They’re not putting the stimulus in the right places. This administration is really being run like a Junior Achievement project.”
Almost paradoxically, the increase in discouraged workers actually helps the official unemployment numbers. People who stop looking for work are not counted as unemployed and that allowed the Obama administration to publish an improvement from 9.9% to 9.7% unemployment in Friday’s jobs report.
David Rosenberg, chief economist for Gluskin Sheff explains, “If it weren’t for the plunge in the labor force, the US unemployment rate would have climbed to 10% in May. The household survey actually flagged a 35,000 outright decline in employment last month.”
Even with these dropouts, we will most likely see the official unemployment rate rise above 10% again once the temporary census workers are finished.
I am offended at your reference that Junior Achievement has anything to do with complacancy or the entitlements this administrtion is using to strip away self determination. For over 90 years Junior Achievement has been all about teaching the values of Free Enterprize and capitalism. These are the keys to self empowerment and the creation of net worth.
Maybe you should get off your chair and teach a JA class. It may be the only way to educate an emerging generation to what true self worth really is.
That’s a great point Rick. The comment you reference was from Peter Morici, a professor at the University of Maryland’s Smith School of Business and the former chief economist at the US International Trade Commission, but we did quote him here.
I’ve worked with JuniorAchievement and JA is much better managed that the Obama Administration! The people at JA perform an extremely valuable service to the young people they work with, to their countries, and to humanity. Participating in the JA experience as a youth increases confidence and self-esteem and it builds important career and business skills which help to create successful adults and successful economies. Volunteering at JA is a rewarding experience which energizes business people by connecting them to some of the best and brightest young minds in the world.
For those of our readers who are not familiar with JuniorAchievement, I invite you to visit JA.org. You can find a JA office near you to volunteer, to donate, or to enroll in one of JA’s many programs for young people.
Rick, thank you for your service and keep up the great work at JA Houston!