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ADA Updates

Real Unemployment Rate at 16.77%
Posted Mar 02 2010 at 12:13 PM
Updates >>

The real unemployment rate released today by the Bureau of Labor Statistics is 16.7% -- a full 7 points higher than the officially reported rate. The official rate (9.7%) only accounts for those who are not working and are actively seeking full-time employment. In reality, there are 8,316,000 people working part-time for economic reasons, and 1,065,000 who are not counted because they are discouraged over job prospects. In addition, there are 6,961,000 workers that are holding multiple jobs in order to support their families.  There are 6.4 job seekers per job opening in November 2009, compared to 1.1 in 2000, before the crisis.

Americans for Democratic Action’s National Director, Michael J. Wilson, made the following statement about today’s unemployment numbers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics:

“We are beginning to see signs of an economic recovery. Even though we know that jobs are a lagging indicator, we know that is of little comfort to the millions who have remained jobless for week after week after week.

“In addition, as we enter African American History Month, the 24.3% African American unemployment rate means that nearly one in four African Americans is jobless. The Congress and the President need to work together to make sure that the Great Recession’s contribution to history is ending the disparate impact joblessness has on the African American community."

ADA encourages Congress to act immediately by extending the end of the year unemployment insurance and COBRA benefits. It can also scale up existing jobs programs, without creating new government bureaucracies, by increasing the funding for the Job Corps, AmeriCorps, and the Peace Corps. These programs have the added benefit of being targeted to young workers who have had a hard time getting that first job in the current recession. The federal government can also provide important fiscal relief to states through the robust support of FMAP. Congress can and must make these important policy changes – expeditiously – if we are going to address the challenges of the Great Recession.

*The above is from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.