Given that the broader U-6 measure of unemployment is currently around 17% (ShadowStats.com puts the figure at 22%, and some put it even higher), the current numbers are that much worse. But it is important to look at some details.
For example, official Bureau of Labor Statistics numbers put U-6 above 20% in several states: California: 21.9 Nevada: 21.5 Michigan 21.6 Oregon 20.1 In the past year, unemployment has grown the fastest in the mountain West. And certain races and age groups have gotten hit hard. According to Congress' Joint Economic Committee: By February 2010, the U-6 rate for African Americans rose to 24.9 percent. 34.5% of young African American men were unemployed in October 2009. As the Center for Immigration Studies noted last December: Unemployment rates for less-educated and younger workers: As of the third quarter of 2009, the overall unemployment rate for native-born Americans is 9.5 percent; the U-6 measure shows it as 15.9 percent. The unemployment rate for natives with a high school degree or less is 13.1 percent. Their U-6 measure is 21.9 percent. The unemployment rate for natives with less than a high school education is 20.5 percent. Their U-6 measure is 32.4 percent. The unemployment rate for young native-born Americans (18-29) who have only a high school education is 19 percent. Their U-6 measure is 31.2 percent. The unemployment rate for native-born blacks with less than a high school education is 28.8 percent. Their U-6 measure is 42.2 percent. The unemployment rate for young native-born blacks (18-29) with only a high school education is 27.1 percent. Their U-6 measure is 39.8 percent. The unemployment rate for native-born Hispanics with less than a high school education is 23.2 percent. Their U-6 measure is 35.6 percent. The unemployment rate for young native-born Hispanics (18-29) with only a high school degree is 20.9 percent. Their U-6 measure is 33.9 percent. No wonder Chris Tilly - director of the Institute for Research on Labor and Employment at UCLA - says that African-Americans and high school dropouts are experiencing depression-level unemployment. And as I have previously noted, unemployment for those who earn $150,000 or more is only 3%, while unemployment for the poor is 31%. The bottom line is that it is difficult to compare current unemployment with what occurred during the Great Depression. In some ways things seem better now. In other ways, they don't. Factors like where you live, race, income and age greatly effect one's experience of the severity of unemployment in America. In addition, wages have plummeted for those who are employed. As Pulitzer Prize-winning tax reporter David Cay Johnston notes: Every 34th wage earner in America in 2008 went all of 2009 without earning a single dollar, new data from the Social Security Administration show. Total wages, median wages, and average wages all declined .... And see this, this, and this. Food Stamps Replace Soup Kitchens 1 out of every 7 Americans now rely on food stamps. While we don't see soup kitchens, it may only be because so many Americans are receiving food stamps. Indeed, despite the dramatic photographs we've all seen of the 1930s, the 43 million Americans relying on food stamps to get by may actually be much greater than the number who relied on soup kitchens during the Great Depression. Inequality Worse than During the Great Depression I recently reported that inequality is worse than it's been since 1917: Most mainstream economists do not believe there is a causal connection between inequality and severe downturns. But recent studies by Emmanuel Saez and Thomas Piketty are waking up more and more economists to the possibility that there may be a connection. Specifically, economics professors Saez (UC Berkeley) and Piketty (Paris School of Economics) show that the percentage of wealth held by the richest 1% of Americans peaked in 1928 and 2007 - right before each crash: full: _http://www.washingtonsblog.com/_ (http://www.washingtonsblog.com/) _______________________________________________ Marxist-Leninist-List mailing list Marxist-Leninist-List@lists.econ.utah.edu To change your options or unsubscribe go to: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxist-leninist-list
