Ten percent of Americans may be jobless by year's end

Associated Press ^ | March 12, 2009 | JEANNINE AVERSA

[george76]

A growing number of states suffered double-digit unemployment rates in January, and others are close behind, buttressing fears that the national jobless rate could hit 10 percent by year's end.

The rising joblessness reflects the pain that the housing, credit and financial crises – the worst since the 1930s – has caused workers and companies. The latest figures were issued Wednesday in the Labor Department's monthly report on state unemployment.

In January, jobless rates rose in 49 states and the District of Columbia. Louisiana was the only state to record a drop.

[george76]

U-6 ...Total unemployed, plus all marginally attached
workers, plus total employed part time for
economic reasons, as a percent of the civilian
labor force plus all marginally attached workers... 14.8

http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.t12.htm

[backhoe]

 

[chrisser]

I feel for you and your associates. Didn't realize things were so bad in MI.

I do have a question about your comment:

"Anticipating the rush of certain FR people here to cry "move, do what you have to do you lazy so and so". Here is my question to them: How can you expect a non skilled laborer to move out of state in search of an equally non-skilled job when any location will certainly be filling jobs with its equally unskilled labor force in that location? And if by chance the unskilled Michigan worker does find an out of state job, how can he be expected to pay his rent in the new location while at the same time supporting his family back in Michigan while making non-skilled labor wages?"

It's been at least 40 years since it has been evident to everyone that the paradigm of the first half of the century no longer applies. What have these "non-skilled" people been doing for the last 5, 10, 20 years? Did they expect to have jobs handed to them without developing any sort of skills?

The reason I am suggesting that there is some onus of responsibility on these individuals, is that I drive through some pretty depressed neighborhoods between home and work. But what I see are satellite dishes everywhere. Cars with rims that cost more than my whole car. People wearing clothes that I know aren't cheap. My wife and I both have college degrees. I make a decent enough living that she can stay home - that's our definition of luxury. We don't even have cable. Both our cars have 100+k miles on them. We are careful with our spending, and when necessary, if my company doesn't provide it, we invest in training to keep us (well, me especially) marketable.

Obtaining skills employers want isn't something that should be thought about when times are bad - they're what one should be working on when times are good. Not buying the bling, or 150 channels, or the latest cell phone.

Now, I'm not saying the people you're talking about all fall into this category. But I see it a lot, and I have to say, it takes a lot of the empathy out of it for me. It's rare that I go to a bar, but when I do, they're always packed. It's even rarer I go to a sporting event, but likewise, there are plenty of people there paying a lot of money for an evening.

When I go to training, it's lucky if I am in a class that is half filled.

Just some personal observations. Maybe they don't apply to the people you're talking about.

[Hot Tabasco]

What have these "non-skilled" people been doing for the last 5, 10, 20 years?

For the folks I personally know from my plant that closed down 2 years ago after about 80 years in existence, they were working press lines slinging steel into the 200 ton presses that stamp out little things like Ford Expedition body sides, or van roofs, 8, 10 sometimes 12 hours a day 7 days a week in good times then hopefully 40 hours a week in not so good times. As I said, just doing the back breaking work that you degreed folks won't touch.

If everybody had a degree there'd be no one left to clean urinals or sweep floors........

[KSCITYBOY]

I will be surprised if the national rate doesn’t hit 15%. Probably 20+% in most of Europe.

[thefactor]

has anyone noticed the talk of impending economic doom has slowed down considerably?

[SwankyC]

If everybody had a degree there'd be no one left to clean urinals or sweep floors........

Sounds to me like there's plenty for your non-degreed folks to do - without moving.

[chrisser]

As I said, just doing the back breaking work that you degreed folks won't touch.

That's funny.

So tell me, what's the hourly pay at a Ford or their vendor's stamping plant? about $15/an hour to start? 80 hours a week is pulling in the equivalent of $60k/year.

Where did that money go? Why wasn't it in the bank so they could sign up for classes to do something else when the work dropped off to 30 or 40 hrs/week (as anyone who has looked a few years into the past knows will eventually happen)?

It comes down to choices.

I worked some pretty crappy jobs - sometimes two of them at once - to get my education. It sucked, and after getting that degree it was no picnic for a few years afterwards. And it sure didn't end there - any skilled profession requires constant updates to keep current. Not complaining - I decided long ago to do what it takes to get out of the factory, grease, dirt and danger. IMHO, it was worth it, and frankly, that's despite how much I actually enjoyed doing manual labor back then.

I'm not a genious and I'm not some sort of super human. So if I could do it, why can't others, especially after 5 or 10 or 20 years? It took me 5 years to get the degree and probably another 5 to get really settled and stable.

Any of these workers have boats when times were good? Big screen TVs? New cars? Out drinking couple times a week? Playing the lottery? How much of that could have bought them the education (and not necessarily a degree) to have a better paying job?

[Glenn]

I seem to remember things sucked pretty badly around 1976 and things don't seem nearly as bad now, at least not yet.

For the first time since I took a job right out of school (1976), I filed for unemployment this week. So I see it a little differently.

[chrisser]

I feel for you. I really do.

But let me know when you’re waiting in line for your ration of gasoline like we were back then.

Things are bad for a lot of people. And it sucks, but there have been plenty of bad times since the 1930s and it’s likely there will be more in the decades to come.

[1rudeboy]

Shadowstats.com has it as being about 19%, using the same method to compute unemployment as was used before Clinton changed it.

ROTFLMAO--I'll bet bullcrapstats.com has it a 50%.

[DTogo]

More recruits for the Constitutional Restoration!

[ikka]

Are you going to post junk, or have you examined the data and determined that shadowstats is wrong?

[1rudeboy]

When has shadowstats ever been correct? 19% unemployment would place us at what, double Carter’s levels? Is that what you’re seeing?

[Just another Joe]

I seem to remember things sucked pretty badly around 1976 and things don't seem nearly as bad now, at least not yet.

Mid '70s through the mid '80s. Adn it's not as bad, yet.

[Toddsterpatriot]

According to BLS, we have 111,196,000 private sector workers and 22,572,000 government employees. Looks like just under 134,000,000 workers in a population of over 300 million.

Quick, tell John Williams that unemployment is over 55%.

[Hot Tabasco]

That's funny.

There is nothing funny about what is happening here in Michigan to hard working people. You have a definite ugly sense of humor which is typical of so-called compassionate conservatives who think they have all the answers to our economy but yet are clueless as to what is going on with the uneducated folks who are more than pulling their fair share ………

So tell me, what's the hourly pay at a Ford or their vendor's stamping plant? about $15/an hour to start? 80 hours a week is pulling in the equivalent of $60k/year.

Thats my plant, $19 maximum. Now reread my prior statement: overtime in good times………40 hours or less during not so good times with layoffs always in the near horizon……..These are the jobs (at least in my plant) that were sustaining the Detroit workforce that have neither the educational requirements nor the educational ability to enhance their lives via continued education. These were ass busting jobs that were held by uneducated people who were willing to put in the overtime hours during the good times to enhance their incomes and provide for their families. Whatever it took, they did it. And when you see these people in person, and the ultimate physical toil that the plant took on their bodies you have to wonder how the hell they did it. 25 years of loading a press line or unloading stock baskets takes its toll. Men and women in their 50’s look 15 years older or more. It may sound easy to you but unless you have spent 6 months on a line you have no F'ing idea of what you are talking about.

The remaining hourly employees at my plant had at least 15 years of seniority and were at a minimum 44 years old. The older employees, those not eligible for retirement, were in their 50's with over 20 years of service.

What the F' are these people going to do now? Look at the Detroit News or Free Press and tell me how many ads are in there looking for "general labor"? Not a god damn one! If there is, you'll have 500 people applying for the job!

I applied for a warehouse job 3 miles from me about 2 months ago and didn't even get a response. 35 years in HR, manufacturing experience and an associates degree in management. Didn't get a call........

Any of these workers have boats when times were good? Big screen TVs? New cars? Out drinking couple times a week? Playing the lottery?

I have no F’n idea nor is it my business to know. All I know is these people busted their asses while working for my company.

But after this exchange it appears to me where you are coming from. In your opinion, anyone who can’t get the education or jobs you did is either lazy, drug addicted, alcoholic or a gambler…….

I will admit that life isn’t fair but for you to look down on these people and cast judgment on their lifestyles YOU PRESUME they are partaking in is nothing but societal racist elitism. You are absolutely clueless and exemplify the hypocrisy that the Democrats accuse the Republican party of……….

It comes down to choices.

What choice do they have when they do not have the intellectual ability to enhance their education? The only choice that was available was to devote their life to life on the line, show up every day for work and work the overtime when it became available……………

And yet you look down on these people……….

[Hot Tabasco]

I find it ironic that people like you who bad mouth Detroit and its citizens, calling it a democrat cesspool, will also turn around and accuse the very people who were still employed in the city at my now closed plant as unworthy of any compassion in the loss of their jobs simply because they do not have the intellectual ability to enhance their lives.......God help us all........

[Jacquerie]

I left Detroit in 1975. I was 19. I just couldn’t see myself in a plant.

My near and extended family were, and a few are still employed in one way or another by the auto industry and suppliers. It breaks my heart to see what happened to the arsenal of democracy.

My take is that the UAW and democrats destroyed a once thriving city and industry.

[Hot Tabasco]

My take is that the UAW and democrats destroyed a once thriving city and industry.

The UAW had nothing to do with the decline of Detroit, that was all corrupt internal politics, and still is.

There are many, many more factors involved in the decline of my state's economy so the only comment I'm going to make is this: For every UAW demand, there was an equal acceptance by the Big 3......

When I write about my past employment with my company for 35 years and all the good people I worked with at the Detroit plant, I have nothing but respect for each and every UAW employee there and the jobs they had to endure during their tenure.

Our plant was not closed due to UAW demands, our plant was closed due to the unrealistic demands of our parent company ThyssenKrupp. For the uninitiated, ThyssenKrupp was a merger of our previous owner Thyssen Steel and Krupp Steel company back in about 1997. Both were German companies........

When Krupp took control, they proceeded to close our Philadelphia stamping plant in 2002 then in about 2005 the now ThyssenKrupp Board went to our Detroit plant and made the following demand: "We will invest the necessary monies to upgrade the plant and its presses but only if the plant can guarantee a 16% return on that investment". That was an outrageous demand and one that our plant could not fulfill. Ultimately we did not get the finances to upgrade and they closed down our plant at the end of 2006 and sold off The Budd Company also.

What many people outside the auto manufacturing industry do not realize is that being a supplier to the Big 3, and especially a Tier 1 supplier as my company was, the big 3 calls the shots! Their UAW demands that their suppliers are UAW shops so UAW it is.

They demand that your company reduce your product costs by 17%, you do it or else despite the fact that you are already losing money in order to keep their contracts coming in.

In February 2006 our stamping plant in Shelbyville, KY, walked out on strike. The vice pres. of Corp. HR assembled a group of non-union mgt. employees to send down to KY to run limited production on our Ford Truck parts while the strike continued. Ford Motor Company told our company that there was no way in hell they were going to risk shutting down their Ky Ford Truck assembly due to lack of parts from our company and for our company to settle the strike immediately. We were forced to give in to every demand of the UAW at that plant after only 5 days of walk-out......

Thank you Ford Motor Company!

I spent 35 years working for a Tier 1 auto supplier in the auto industry. I worked WITH the UAW representatives at our Detroit plant and FOR corporate management at our corporate headquarters so I have seen both side of the aisle.

The downfall of my company was not the UAW but rather the unrealistic demands and greed of a German based entity who had absolutely no roots to the history of my company, a company that had been in existence for over 80 years!

Within 10 years after Krupp gained control, they sold our Plastics Division, they closed our Philadelphia plant, closed the Detroit Stamping plant and ultimately sold off our North American Body and Chasis operations to a Canadian firm called Martinrea.........Within 6 months, Martinrea promptly let go all the employees at our corporate office......

The corporate employees were all highly skilled management and technical employees and hopefully have now found other jobs. The Detroit plant management employees that I have had contact with have found some jobs and other haven't but are continuing to look. As for the unskilled workers, the workers who were the backbone of the company, the ones who did the work, the ones who produced the product that our company sold, the ones who really made the difference, well, I can only pray for them. These are the folks who won't be able to find jobs here in Michigan despite the ignorant ridicule from an above poster who is absolutely clueless.