The Bureau of Labor Statistics’ just released numbers show the national unemployment rate rose to 9.8 percent in September, the highest since June 1983. Employers cut 263,000 jobs.
The BLS reports:
Since the start of the recession in December 2007, the number of unemployed persons has increased by 7.6 million to 15.1 million, and the unemployment rate has doubled to 9.8 percent.
I learned from Dr. Julianne Malveaux to dig a little deeper. And when you do, the numbers tell the rest of the story.
For instance, the BLS reports:
About 2.2 million persons were marginally attached to the labor force in September, an increase of 615,000 from a year earlier. (The data are not seasonally adjusted.) These individuals were not in the labor force, wanted and were available for work, and had looked for a job sometime in the prior 12 months. They were not counted as unemployed because they had not searched for work in the 4 weeks preceding the survey.
The official black unemployment rate is 15.4 percent (up from 15.1 percent). But the real rate is off the charts. It is closer to 30 percent.
Former Labor Secretary Robert Reich recently wrote:
Unemployment will almost certainly in double-digits next year -- and may remain there for some time. And for every person who shows up as unemployed in the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ household survey, you can bet there’s another either too discouraged to look for work or working part time who’d rather have a full-time job or else taking home less pay than before (I’m in the last category, now that the University of California has instituted pay cuts). And there’s yet another person who’s more fearful that he or she will be next to lose a job.
In other words, ten percent unemployment really means twenty percent underemployment or anxious employment. All of which translates directly into late payments on mortgages, credit cards, auto and student loans, and loss of health insurance. It also means sleeplessness for tens of millions of Americans. And, of course, fewer purchases (more on this in a moment).
Reich continued:
So why is unemployment and underemployment so high, and why is it likely to remain high for some time? Because, as noted, people who are worried about their jobs or have no jobs, and who are also trying to get out from under a pile of debt, are not going do a lot of shopping. And businesses that don’t have customers aren’t going do a lot of new investing. And foreign nations also suffering high unemployment aren’t going to buy a lot of our goods and services.
And without customers, companies won’t hire. They’ll cut payrolls instead.
In short, consumer spending accounts for 70 percent of the economy. It’s Econ 101.
An interactive timeline of the national black unemployment rate is available at Tracking Change Wiki.
