The 86 million invisible unemployed

[shah269 0]

http://money.cnn.com/2012/05/03/news/economy/unemployment-rate/index.htm?hpt=hp_t1
WOW!
Just nuts!

Life through good thoughts, good words, and good deeds is necessary to ensure happiness and to keep chaos at bay.

The only thing that falls from the sky is birdshit and fools!

[lawrocket 3]

Yep. This isn't news. The unemployment rate being ballyhooed does not include people who gave up looking for work.

It's the statistical manipulation. Change the definition of unemployed and you can affect the numbers.

Welcome to politics.

My wife is hotter than your wife.

[kelpdiver 2]

Quote

http://money.cnn.com/2012/05/03/news/economy/unemployment-rate/index.htm?hpt=hp_t1
WOW!
Just nuts!

uh, you did read the article, right? A near majority of that 85M are folks that are in college full time or retired. They are not the invisible unemployed. So cut the number in half and repeat the wow statement if you like.

[Southern_Man 0]

Quote

Quote

http://money.cnn.com/2012/05/03/news/economy/unemployment-rate/index.htm?hpt=hp_t1
WOW!
Just nuts!

uh, you did read the article, right? A near majority of that 85M are folks that are in college full time or retired. They are not the invisible unemployed. So cut the number in half and repeat the wow statement if you like.

Yes, it does not encompass everybody, but by just including the people who say they are ready for immediate work the unemployment rate rises from ~8.2 to over 11%. That's a pretty big difference.

"What if there were no hypothetical questions?"

[kelpdiver 2]

Quote

Yes, it does not encompass everybody, but by just including the people who say they are ready for immediate work the unemployment rate rises from ~8.2 to over 11%. That's a pretty big difference.

I think the underemployment number is the most telling, though one of the harder ones to determine. Someone working 20-30 hours a week when they want to be working full time with benefits is not in a great state.

[shah269 0]

Quote

Quote

Yes, it does not encompass everybody, but by just including the people who say they are ready for immediate work the unemployment rate rises from ~8.2 to over 11%. That's a pretty big difference.

I think the underemployment number is the most telling, though one of the harder ones to determine. Someone working 20-30 hours a week when they want to be working full time with benefits is not in a great state.

I looked at it at 11% and was like WOW!
And i agree 100% the real problem is the underemployment issue and all the independent contractors.
We are in for a very bad shock in a year when the tax base dies off.
We are with out a question of a doubt F-U-C-K-E-D!

Life through good thoughts, good words, and good deeds is necessary to ensure happiness and to keep chaos at bay.

The only thing that falls from the sky is birdshit and fools!

[grimmie 186]

Yet I drive around town and see help wanted signs.
And the Sunday paper has a huge employment section.

[Southern_Man 0]

not my town. There are very few jobs advertised here.

"What if there were no hypothetical questions?"

[DrewEckhardt 0]

Quote

Yet I drive around town and see help wanted signs.

I know college graduates turned down for hundreds of jobs where given their work ethic and history I can only conclude that the employer wants some one who is unlikely to leave for a job utilizing their degree with better pay.

Quote

And the Sunday paper has a huge employment section.

Every field isn't open to every person.

My company had three openings for software engineers which would be open to about a million out of the 135 million people in the labor force which is somewhat less than a percent.

Every job within a field isn't open to every applicant by virtue of skill or work history.

When getting candidates through recruiters I think about 1 in 200 to 1 in 100 have been worth hiring.

[tkhayes 348]

walk down the aisles at Walmart. Try to find something made in the USA

Now ask yourself "Why am I walking down the aisles at Walmart?"

When was the last time you write a letter to ANY chain store or business in the USA asking them to please sell US made goods, not Chinese imports?

grass roots efforts may help solve the problem. We created it and we can fix it.

[rushmc 23]

Quote

walk down the aisles at Walmart. Try to find something made in the USA

Now ask yourself "Why am I walking down the aisles at Walmart?"

When was the last time you write a letter to ANY chain store or business in the USA asking them to please sell US made goods, not Chinese imports?

grass roots efforts may help solve the problem. We created it and we can fix it.

Ya
The grass roots efforts needed is to get government departments off the back of companies who wish to manufacture here but can not. And they can not because of stupid business and environmental restrictions which make it impossible for them to compete

We can fix it

First step, retire Obama

We agree on something

"America will never be destroyed from the outside,
if we falter and lose our freedoms,
it will be because we destroyed ourselves."
Abraham Lincoln

[rushmc 23]

Oh ya

I forgot

Of course I want polluted air and water

Just for my grand kids

"America will never be destroyed from the outside,
if we falter and lose our freedoms,
it will be because we destroyed ourselves."
Abraham Lincoln

[loumeinhart 0]

Quote

Now ask yourself "Why am I walking down the aisles at Walmart?"

It was 3AM and I needed:

-HP OfficeJet 6500 printer/fax
-thumbdrive
-2 quarts of strawberries
-tie-downs
-Insect repellant
-pack of 3 white Hanes Tees
-Can of grizzly long-cut
-6" Tuna melt + jalepenos from subway

Make that happen at 3AM with a better price and I'm yours

[kelpdiver 2]

Quote

It was 3AM and I needed:

-HP OfficeJet 6500 printer/fax
-thumbdrive
-2 quarts of strawberries
-tie-downs
-Insect repellant
-pack of 3 white Hanes Tees
-Can of grizzly long-cut
-6" Tuna melt + jalepenos from subway

You needed a fax machine and bug spray, and 3 Tees at the same time? WTF were you doing? This sounds like an interesting new type of adventure race.

[marks2065 0]

Quote

not my town. There are very few jobs advertised here.

If unemployment is so high, why are there any jobs advertised? I guess there are a few people that just don't want to work

[kelpdiver 2]

Quote

Quote

not my town. There are very few jobs advertised here.

If unemployment is so high, why are there any jobs advertised? I guess there are a few people that just don't want to work

because of course it's not a simple matter of plugging in a random unemployed person into your new position. You're looking for the best choices unless this is commodity work. You may even have a bias towards people already with jobs.

[Bertt 0]

It's not the politicians that annoy me - it's the journalists.
I expect politicians to put a spin on their version of the facts, but an informed electorate needs accurate information. An article about the invisible unemployed should not use a graph that includes people over 65 and that puts 16 and 17 year olds in the same category with 24 year olds. So are these journalists lazy, incompetent, or evil?

You don't have to outrun the bear.

[GeorgiaDon 362]

Quote

An article about the invisible unemployed should not use a graph that includes people over 65 and that puts 16 and 17 year olds in the same category with 24 year olds. So are these journalists lazy, incompetent, or evil?

I doubt they're overtly evil, but lazy and incompetent seems a good fit. At least, they need to explain the data better. It does sound as if they count students in high school, college, and university, as well as all retired people, as "unemployed". If there is a point to be made about the "invisible unemployed", it's completely negated by their apparent inclusion of these groups. Every time I hear about these people who aren't officially counted as unemployed because they've given up and stopped looking for work, I wonder how they are surviving. If they are getting retrained by going back to school, it isn't truthful at all to say they've "given up", and they aren't really "unemployed" either.

Don

_____________________________________
Tolerance is the cost we must pay for our adventure in liberty. (Dworkin, 1996)
“Education is not filling a bucket, but lighting a fire.” (Yeats)

[popsjumper 2]

Quote

Quote

not my town. There are very few jobs advertised here.

If unemployment is so high, why are there any jobs advertised? I guess there are a few people that just don't want to work

Assumptions can get you into trouble. Maybe his town is 100% employed. In all fairness, then again, maybe totally unemployed. Do you know?

My reality and yours are quite different.
I think we're all Bozos on this bus.
Falcon5232, SCS8170, SCSA353, POPS9398, DS239

[popsjumper 2]

Quote

It's not the politicians that annoy me - it's the journalists.
I expect politicians to put a spin on their version of the facts, but an informed electorate needs accurate information. An article about the invisible unemployed should not use a graph that includes people over 65 and that puts 16 and 17 year olds in the same category with 24 year olds. So are these journalists lazy, incompetent, or evil?

D) All of the above

My reality and yours are quite different.
I think we're all Bozos on this bus.
Falcon5232, SCS8170, SCSA353, POPS9398, DS239

[popsjumper 2]

Quote

Quote

An article about the invisible unemployed should not use a graph that includes people over 65 and that puts 16 and 17 year olds in the same category with 24 year olds. So are these journalists lazy, incompetent, or evil?

I doubt they're overtly evil, but lazy and incompetent seems a good fit. At least, they need to explain the data better. It does sound as if they count students in high school, college, and university, as well as all retired people, as "unemployed". If there is a point to be made about the "invisible unemployed", it's completely negated by their apparent inclusion of these groups. Every time I hear about these people who aren't officially counted as unemployed because they've given up and stopped looking for work, I wonder how they are surviving. If they are getting retrained by going back to school, it isn't truthful at all to say they've "given up", and they aren't really "unemployed" either.

Don

That is a good point. The debate on just what is included in the numbers, and its validity could go on forever. So, what, in your opinion, should be included when you want to say, "Invisible Unemployed?"

Well, I guess that's going to just generate more debated on just what 'invisible' means....

My reality and yours are quite different.
I think we're all Bozos on this bus.
Falcon5232, SCS8170, SCSA353, POPS9398, DS239