Job Searches in 2003 the Longest in 20 Years

Reuters ^ | Fri January 9, 2004 03:45 PM ET | By Jonathan Nicholson

[RaceBannon]

Job Searches in 2003 the Longest in 20 Years Fri January 9, 2004 03:45 PM ET

By Jonathan Nicholson WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The year 2003 was the most difficult for U.S. job hunters since 1983, as they faced the gloomiest job market in years, according to Labor Department figures released on Friday.

The unemployment rate was the highest since 1994, and the search for a new job was the longest in two decades.

According to Labor Department data, the average spell of unemployment lasted 19.2 weeks in 2003, or almost five months. That was the longest average duration since 1983, when the U.S. economy was emerging from the worst recession since the Depression. Then the average spell was 20.0 weeks.

As a percentage of all the unemployed, the long-term jobless -- those out of work for 27 weeks or more -- made up 22.1 percent in 2003, the highest annual number since 23.9 percent in 1983.

Democrats have called for renewing a federally-funded extension of unemployment benefits offered through states to deal with the problem. They revived their attacks on Friday after a weaker-than-expected jobs report showed only 1,000 new hires in December. Measures of long-term joblessness improved slightly in the month, though.

While Bush administration officials have continually repeated that they will not be satisfied "until every American who wants a job can get one," it has yet to support a renewal of extended benefits, a move many economists say would help blunt the economic damage of the rise in long-term unemployment.

In early December, Treasury Secretary John Snow told Reuters the administration had yet to decide if it would support extending the program for a third time.

According to the liberal-leaning Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, about 80,000 to 90,000 workers will be exhausting their state-funded benefits every week by late January, after the program's eligibility ended in December.

"Unemployment is the Achilles' heel of this administration and Congressional Republicans, and they cannot continue to ignore it," said House Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer, of Maryland.

Lee Price, an economist with the Economic Policy Institute and a former Clinton-era Commerce Department official, said the long-term jobless numbers show how difficult the labor market remains.

Extending jobless benefits again would stimulate the economy by putting money in the pockets of people not getting paychecks, Price said. "Almost 100 percent of that is going to be spent," he said.

© Reuters 2004. All Rights Reserved.

[RaceBannon]

Make sure you keep repeating the mantra!

The problem is not jobs leaving the country, it is not capital equipment leaving the country, the problem is not intellectual property leaving the country, the problem is not contracts going to communistic/fascistic/socialistic government run countries that prop up their companies with government funds to defer losses that the US companies cannot compete against...

THE PROBLEM IS YOUR ATTITUDE ABOUT IT!! JUST KEEP TELLING YOURSELF THINGS WILL GET BETTER AND THEY WILL!

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[jimfree]

According to the liberal-leaning Center on Budget and Policy Priorities

How about that qualifier - from Reuters, no less! CBPP must be pretty left-wing indeed to get such a handle from the news service.

[sarcasm]

Bush administration officials have continually repeated that they will not be satisfied "until every American Mexican who wants a job can get one,"

[RaceBannon]

I was unemployed for 6 full months last year, 2003, myself, so, I am not disturbed at who wrote this.

[LibertyAndJusticeForAll]

[Extending jobless benefits again would stimulate the economy by putting money in the pockets of people not getting paychecks, Price said. "Almost 100 percent of that is going to be spent," he said. ]

The Bush administration has seen the loss of about 3 million American jobs (a disproportionate amount of middle-class jobs), but only seem to be working on creating jobs for illegals (oops... they are all legal now, voila!), H1B visa workers, Communist Chinese, Indians, Iraqis, Pakistanis, etc.

How does that go again?

"We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America. "

[Ed_in_NJ]

You got that one!

[Ronly Bonly Jones]

Me too, except that it was 9 months.

2003 was a *baaaaaaaaad* year.

[Luke Skyfreeper]

As a percentage of all the unemployed, the long-term jobless -- those out of work for 27 weeks or more -- made up 22.1 percent in 2003, the highest annual number since 23.9 percent in 1983.

Six months?!!! Hell, that's SHORT term!!

[Luke Skyfreeper]

Worst year ever.

[Zipporah]

There is something that I first hadn't considered with the Bush proposal, the guest worker program does not just include Mexicans it includes any foreign worker. This will be exploited by large firms offering the replacement of American workers -legally.. not having to deal with the H-1 visa program. There is no provision in Bush's proposal to prevent it.

[Luke Skyfreeper]

THE PROBLEM IS YOUR ATTITUDE ABOUT IT!! JUST KEEP TELLING YOURSELF THINGS WILL GET BETTER AND THEY WILL!

In fact, they will get better, they are getting better, and if you have the right attitude, you can cause them to get better.

But your point is well taken. It's NOT all in your mind. There's a real problem here, and if you're suffering, well, you're not the only one.

But even in this situation, finding the road out starts with what you are thinking in your head.

[dakine]

How does anyone go 6 months without a job?

[Woodman]

What do you do? Are you making more or less now that you found a job? I went through the early 90's with 7 different jobs, 5 of those 7 companies are now out of business, but I made more at each new position than I did before. From 93-94 I worked on average 7months/year, but still made more than I did in previous years. To a certain extent, it is how and what you look for.

[snopercod]

I have been unemployed for 18 months now, so I can relate.

Sure, I live in a depressed area of the country, but I am willing to travel if the price is right.

Problem is, the price is never right. It's really not worth setting up a second household 2000 miles from home for $15 per hour. I can do odd jobs close to home and be better off.

I'm setting up my own business in the meantime (AutoCAD drafting), but the phone is not exactly ringing off the hook. OK, it hasn't rung at all. But I'm not giving up. Gotta' make more personal visits next week.

[Woodman]

FWIW My group has hired over 30 professionals since April 03. I have hired 6 myself and when I even tried to tell people we had jobs here they accused me of everything from fraud to making it up (when I pointed to the listings, it was false advertising). I know things are bad, I have been there before but there are also opportunities out there that people are missing.

[snopercod]

How does anyone go 6 months without a job?

1. Put your spouse to work (or increase his/her hours).

2. Borrow money

3. Cut back on your lifestyle

4. Sell stuff

[ItsOurTimeNow]

"We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America. "

That's some strange-looking text there...

Where'd you get it from? It looks like it came from that wierd, old-fashioned and certainly outdated document from ages ago.

Are you sure it still applies today?

(/sarcasm...kinda)

[snopercod]

MSNBC just mention that the unemployment rate is only going down because of the increasing number of workers who have "given up" - 300,000 by their count.

Personally, I think there are probably a lot more than that. But we haven't given up, we are still looking - we just don't get any more benefits.