Right Now There Are 102.6 Million Working Age Americans That Do Not Have A Job

TEC ^ | 10/07/2015 | Michael Snyder

[Paul46360]

Don't have or WANT a job??? That is the question.

[cableguymn]

And they still eat, have a cell phone, probably cable TV and a car with gas in it too.

[Carthego delenda est]

“And they still eat....”

That not eating business doesn’t work too well.

[kabar]

When you bring in 1.1 million legal permanent immigrants a year along with 640,000 guest workers annually, you are going to increase the supply of labor. Hence the declining labor participation rates and stagnant or decreasing wages. Pretty easy to understand. And the jobs are going to the immigrants.

Government data collected in December 2014 show 18 million immigrants (legal and illegal) living in the United States who arrived in January 2000 or later. But only 9.3 million jobs were added over this time period. In addition, the native-born population 16 and older grew by 25.2 million. Because job growth has not come close to matching immigration and population growth, the share of Americans in the labor force has declined dramatically — a clear indication there is no labor shortage.

Despite this, Congress is considering proposals to increase legal immigration even further; and during the last Congress the Senate actually passed the Schumer-Rubio bill (S.744), which would have doubled legal immigration and legalized illegal immigrants.1 Congress's disregard for the absorption capacity of the U.S. labor market has profound consequences for American workers.

[mrmeyer]

This can’t be true. The .gov says we’re nearing full employment. /sarc

[Don Corleone]

Which puts the real unemployment rate in the neighborhood of 40 plus percent. Yet, no riots ‘cause the Marxists are providing them with food, clothing, shelter, cell phones, TV’s medicines etc. using the money from those foolish enough to believe in the American dream or just printing up more with the acquiescence of the gutless Republicans in the Congress. Waiting for the Margaret Thatcher axiom to be fulfilled.

[cherry]

I often wonder to myself when I'm driving to the store, or trying to get somewhere....doesn't anybody work anymore?...so much traffic....

truth is, the govt class is doing very well, especially their retired on their fat pensions...

throw in the people on govt welfare, one kind or another, with SSDI leading the way...

you have military retirees...another blessed group...

throw in the food stamps, the free college, the free phones, the free bus passes, the free or reduced price living quarters....

why work?....why the hell work?

[cherry]

humans especially Americans would just as soon rake in the freebies than have to put up with actual "work"....

you don't hear any outcry because so many have screwed the system and are happy getting away with it...

[Yaelle]

I believe it. I am not counted among the unemployed but I need a job. I haven’t worked for money for [many] years. Trying to find a job is extremely difficult. There must be other people like me who are typing to enter the work force but no one knows to count us as unemployed.

I know another person who lost their job and then started a business that isn’t thriving but could also use employment as they struggle to live off of a very tiny business. There must be plenty of people doing that, too.

A little health food store here put out a sign one day, Help Wanted, and got 300 applicants.

[Yaelle]

And they still eat, have a cell phone, probably cable TV and a car with gas in it too.

---

Would you like me and my four children to starve to death? We exist on the kindness of relatives. I’m not taking your tax dollars. But just because we aren’t actually starving or in the street, you want to make snide comments?

[george76]

Heroic efforts are being made to cloak the stagnation of the U.S. economy. One of these is to shift the unemployed work force from the negative-sounding jobless category to the benign-sounding Not in the Labor Force category.

But re-labeling stagnation does not magically transform a stagnant economy.

[wbill]

There are lies, dammed lies, and statistics. These numbers support that premise. 5.1% unemployment, with that many people out of work - even just HALF of that many people out of work, makes no sense whatsoever.

However, it's been my experience that oftentimes when people say, "I can't find a job", they mean, "I can't find a job that I want."

"A job that I'm not over- or under-qualified for, that has the correct level of pay or higher, that's convenient for me to get to, that's close to where I live and doesn't require that I relocate, that has the right benefits, and allows me to work hours that are acceptable. Oh, and it needs to be much, much better than any government benefits that I might currently be getting."

That's a little different from "There's no work."

I've job-hunted before, plenty of times. Used to frustrate me to no end. Perfect job...nope gotta re-locate. Great pay....nope, gotta travel 100%. I can do this....nope, they want eight years of experience, not three. And so on. End result? Sometimes ya need to learn to bend a little.

It will be interesting to watch the workplace unfold over the next generation. Lots and lots of special snowflakes that have had every whim coddled to that are coming of working age AND are in for a rough education. What happens, for instance, when they run into an H1B worker who will do their entry-level work, for 1/2 the price, move anywhere, travel anywhere, and not give management any guff over it? It'll be like a bug hitting a windshield.

[ConservingFreedom]

Government data collected in December 2014 show 18 million immigrants (legal and illegal) living in the United States who arrived in January 2000 or later. But only 9.3 million jobs were added over this time period. In addition, the native-born population 16 and older grew by 25.2 million. Because job growth has not come close to matching immigration and population growth, the share of Americans in the labor force has declined dramatically — a clear indication there is no labor shortage.

Despite this, Congress is considering proposals to increase legal immigration even further; and during the last Congress the Senate actually passed the Schumer-Rubio bill (S.744), which would have doubled legal immigration and legalized illegal immigrants.1 Congress's disregard for the absorption capacity of the U.S. labor market has profound consequences for American workers.

Corporatists and leftists have joined forces to gut the American middle class.

H-1B ping. Let me know if you're not on the list and want to be added (or are and want to be removed).

[kabar]

Add me to the list. Thanks.

[setha]

That just says there is a preference for the desperate over the free. Unlike people that can afford the luxury of refusing work, desperate individuals are easier to manage - especially if they lack citizenship. Encouraging it only makes for a backstabbing workforce.

People have bent themselves enough in their job search. Get rid of the fraud and abuse relating to noncitizen labor - then one can talk about laziness.

[Lizavetta]

"The luxury of refusing work" .... well said.

THAT is what needs to be addressed. This whole "stopped looking for a job" thing always struck me as so strange. How do you survive if you aren't working? How can you choose not to work?

Now I know. Welfare (taxpayers), disability (taxpayers), living with your parents (taxpayers).

[Sam Gamgee]

Well here in Canada everyone thinks the Obama economy is just humming along. We lack the insight to look beyond the headlines.

[Sam Gamgee]

But they do the jobs we won't do. (sarc)

[ConservingFreedom]

Added. Welcome aboard!