The REAL Number Out of Work in the U.S.!

I mentioned in a recent blog the contrast between other nations that report the real numbers out of work and our reporting only those who have been searching for jobs recently. This discrepancy completely distorts any comparison in the progress of national economies.

The NY Times article is a heart breaker with stress placed on elderly workers:

Out of Work, Too Down to Search On, and Uncounted
By MICHAEL LUO
Millions of hidden casualties of the Great Recession are not counted in the unemployment rate because they have
stopped looking for work. A look at four of the uncounted.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/07/us/07worker.html?th&emc=th

The article does not mention the step down effects of older workers retaining their jobs as long as possible (to keep medical coverage and to build up retirement benefits) upon younger and other job seekers -- about 25% of our teens and about the same percentage of minorities are jobless as well. Particularly joblessness of teens leads to further troubles -- crime, vandalism, abuse of people of different backgrounds seen as potential jobs competitors, i.e. racism.

One's heart goes out to people struggling to find work. The impact on them and their families is disastrous, producing depression and other illnesses that kill people and can destroy the families affected.

Let us hope that things in the job domain improve. I have heard that jobs are one of the last recovery items in recessions and we certainly are trapped in a major one now.

What do you think?
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"A war is just if there is no alternative, and the resort to arms is legitimate if they represent your last hope." (Livy cited by Machiavelli)
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Ed Kent 212-665-8535 (voice mail only) [blind copies]