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Washington Times : Jobless rate hits 17 percent (unemployment problem is quickly getting worse)
Washington Times ^ | 10/6/2009 | Editorial

Posted on 10/06/2009 7:31:30 AM PDT by SeekAndFind

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To: Ev Reeman

I see very little evidence of anyone succeeding in finding a job by mailing resumes. The only results I know of personally in recent years have come from networking. A friend on the inside is about ten thousand times more help than everything else I could name put together.


41 posted on 10/06/2009 9:09:54 AM PDT by RipSawyer (Trying to reason with a leftist is like trying to catch sunshine in a fish net at midnight.)
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To: SeekAndFind

Simple enough.

Reduce your standard of living.

If you can make do with one paycheck rather than two than it’s not a necessity to find a job but a luxury. Consider as an example a family might hire a baby sitter while two worked. With one paycheck only that expenditure might be more than they can afford if the significant other cannot find work soon. So that person seeking the job gives up, stays home, and they clip coupons, forego a new car...

Others might move in with family for awhile and turn their attention to getting a degree instad that might help them find a job easier.

Teenage or college students that might ordinarily seek work on the side to offset expenses might give up and forego designer labels or that extra trip for fast food.

Older Americans faced with a choice of no jobs being available may just turn to early retirement.

There are a host of reasons why people would give up searching and can afford to do so. The cost is that there is less money coming into these households to spend in the market. That will keep the list of open positions low if the business isn’t making as much money.


42 posted on 10/06/2009 9:11:25 AM PDT by Soul Seeker
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To: egannacht

Yeah, and that Galt guy is just a myth. The Unicorn count is up by three percent in the last thirty days alone.

The recession is probably over
dear leader couldn’t be lying
oer the white cliffs of Dover
the pigs are probably flying


43 posted on 10/06/2009 9:12:57 AM PDT by RipSawyer (Trying to reason with a leftist is like trying to catch sunshine in a fish net at midnight.)
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To: Ev Reeman

Both my wife and I are unemployed. We lost our jobs, twice, in Florida so we moved back to IL. We’d both like to work, but there aren’t any jobs here in this small town - the ONLY place we could afford to live on our remaining savings and unemployment. It’s a bedroom community, about 30 miles from any larger city where there USUALLY are jobs. We’re down to one car, so we both can’t work different shifts or in different cities. When our unemployment runs out we won’t have a phone or a computer to apply for jobs. It isn’t as easy as you make it sound - there aren’t any jobs around here right now. When even the unemployment office can’t find a referral for work to send you to, there isn’t anything. There are no help wanted ads in the paper here anymore.

I’m sorry but your post makes the large assumption that there are jobs available but nobody tries hard enough to find them. The local teens, and I have two of them, can’t even find work at McDonald’s - underemployed adults already have those jobs and they aren’t about to give them up.

The old usual and customary advice doesn’t work right now. Someone actually has to have a job opening for you to apply to before that advice works. Ever stand in line with over 100 people for a job at a convenience store? I have, and I have over 30 years experience in IT/DP and management. Not a lot more frustrating than being told you’re over-qualified for one of the few jobs there are available and you’d be happy to get it.


44 posted on 10/06/2009 9:14:29 AM PDT by RonInNaples
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To: SeekAndFind

There’s an easy way to tell quite accurately how many unemployed we have.

The total number of employed people in the United States is a known figure. How many were employed in March of 2008, and how many are employed today?

The IRS should have this figure at their fingertips. They’re withdrawing funds from each of their paychecks.


45 posted on 10/06/2009 9:15:30 AM PDT by DoughtyOne (Deficit spending, trade deficits, unsecure mortages, worthless paper... ... not a problem. Oh yeah?)
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To: DoughtyOne

...or not! ;-)


46 posted on 10/06/2009 9:16:23 AM PDT by DoughtyOne (Deficit spending, trade deficits, unsecure mortages, worthless paper... ... not a problem. Oh yeah?)
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To: SeekAndFind

Obama & Co. bow tada.


47 posted on 10/06/2009 9:19:23 AM PDT by Vaduz
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To: SeekAndFind
for the umpteenth and one time, unemployment, as it's been defined customarily for gawd-only-knows how long, has not "hit 17 percent."

Do facts matter anywhere?

48 posted on 10/06/2009 9:19:56 AM PDT by the invisib1e hand (Isn't the Golden Mean the secret to something," I parried? "Yes," Blue replied. "Mediocrity.")
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To: RipSawyer

That is how jobs are obtained now.

Unless you have a special letter from your local community organizer, you will not be hired via resume.

Job ads are often just dog and pony shows so the insiders can hire the person they actually WANT to hire.

The job market is not meritocracy it is “who do you know”-cracy. The worst offender, government jobs such as DOJ new hire lawyers.


49 posted on 10/06/2009 9:24:26 AM PDT by longtermmemmory (VOTE! http://www.senate.gov and http://www.house.gov)
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To: the invisib1e hand
for the umpteenth and one time, unemployment, as it's been defined customarily for gawd-only-knows how long

That is EXACTLY what the article from the Washington Times is taking issue with. They are saying that in order to ACCURATELY gauge the extent of unemployment, we should NOT use what has been defined customarily but instead use the more accurate measure --- U-6.
50 posted on 10/06/2009 9:26:13 AM PDT by SeekAndFind (wH)
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To: maryz

Its a survey, they have a test group, that ask employment questions, such as how many hours are you working, if you are currenrly looking for a job, etc. If I remember right its 400,000, with a rotation of 100,000 in, and out every month. My numbers might be wrong, but its a survey, not an actual count. Then BLS adds in their bias,an assumption that so many jobs are being created that they don’t know about every month, and scales up to the workforce. That’s where where the unemployment rate comes from. They have several rates based on certain types of unemployment, the one reported is the U3 rate.


51 posted on 10/06/2009 9:28:01 AM PDT by jkeith3213
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To: jkeith3213

Statistics isn’t my area (to say the least!), but that system (if you can call it that) sounds truly ripe for obfuscation and manipulation.


52 posted on 10/06/2009 9:36:39 AM PDT by maryz
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To: whatshotandwhatsnot
What happened to the ponies promised in January? I thought everyone was supposed to have been soaking in hot tubs, sipping champagne, worry and debt free without having to work by now.

I am! I am! /s

53 posted on 10/06/2009 9:39:18 AM PDT by dearolddad
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To: SeekAndFind
in whose world is U6 "the more accurate measure?"

I've posted here numerous times as to why it is not.

It overstates the case.

54 posted on 10/06/2009 9:41:21 AM PDT by the invisib1e hand (Isn't the Golden Mean the secret to something," I parried? "Yes," Blue replied. "Mediocrity.")
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To: RonInNaples

I have a friend that works at McDonald’s in our little town. He tells me they have over 200 applications a month. Things are very bad. I do hope you or your wife finds work soon. Don’t give up!


55 posted on 10/06/2009 9:55:42 AM PDT by flutters (God Bless The USA)
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To: the invisib1e hand
Oooooooo-kay!

What do you think the current unemployment rate is, and how did you arrive at that figure?

Just curious...

CA....

56 posted on 10/06/2009 10:00:33 AM PDT by Chances Are (Whew! It seems I've at last found that silly grin!)
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To: SeekAndFind

The congress is talking about extending unemployment benefits for people who have run out. Wonder how much the unemployment number will go up, when these folks are added BACK into the roles?


57 posted on 10/06/2009 10:31:19 AM PDT by weezel
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To: the invisib1e hand
It overstates the case.

Can you explain to us once again why the way they estimate the current unemployment figures are a more accurate indicator of joblessness in this country ?
58 posted on 10/06/2009 10:53:08 AM PDT by SeekAndFind (wH)
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To: SeekAndFind
Can you explain to us once again why the way they estimate the current unemployment figures are a more accurate indicator of joblessness in this country ?

Well, while I may have given that impression, I don't necessarily believe that, either. I suspect that U4 understates the case slightly and U6 overstates it. This is not because of any conspiracy on anyone's part, but only because of the definitions of each.

Simply stated, U6 includes people who are working. No matter that they are working part time -- they represent hours worked.

If the work force consists of 1000 people, then 40,000 could be worked in a week. If only 30,000 hours are being worked, then you have 75% employment.

Extend the concept to the entire workforce. Calculate how many hours represent full employment. Then do your best to get stats on how many hours are being worked -- hours, whether full or part time. Divide by the number of full-employment hours, and you have your effective employment.

Think of it as "labor-hour utilization," if you will.

It's much more meaningful an approach than trying to figure out who "would rather be employed full time," who is "discouraged," and all that subject nonsense.

59 posted on 10/06/2009 11:14:04 AM PDT by the invisib1e hand (Isn't the Golden Mean the secret to something," I parried? "Yes," Blue replied. "Mediocrity.")
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To: nascarnation
We can't let Democrats skate on the economy

"We're just trying to fix Bush's mess"

You know its their campaign slogan for 2010

60 posted on 10/06/2009 11:24:26 AM PDT by GeronL (California : bankrupt ideas from bankrupt people from a bankrupt state now bankrupting America)
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