Let's face it, things are terrible out there. As we begin a new year, the employment picture hasn't looked this bleak since...well officially 1993 by way of the U3 statistics put out by the Department of Labor. However, when the numbers are closely examined and underemployment is added into the mix along with those that have disappeared from the unemployment rolls, that number, the U6, is at 13.5%. That's a far cry from the already dismal 7.2% figure that are more frequently mentioned.
Now granted, the government is trying to help to some degree. Many of the recently unemployed were given an extension in their benefits, stretched out from 26 weeks to 46 weeks. All those that were a part of that increase to the term of unemployment benefits got a reprieve from having no income whatsoever. The hope is that you find a job in those twenty extra weeks. The problem is, there is no work out there and jobs are vanishing as we speak. Just here in New York, 50,000 of those beneficiaries are about to disappear from the system.
From The NY Times:
About 50,000 New Yorkers who had been collecting unemployment checks for 11 months — the longest stretch that benefits have been available since the last recession eight years ago — will stop receiving weekly payments this week, according to the State Labor Department.[...]This will be the first time since the early 1990s that workers are exhausting benefits that have been extended twice because of an economic downturn. The inability of those people to find work after so many months provides a stark reminder of the weakness of the job market, officials and experts say.
So now they'll have to look for work without that help, or go on welfare. For New York as a whole, it means that the unemployment numbers will go down because so many will disappear from the U3 numbers. What needs to happen is to change the way we measure unemployment in the state and the nation. We can not truly work on the problem of putting people to work if we don't know who they all are.
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