The official U.S. unemployment rate stands at 7.8%. For those with no high school degree, it's closer to 12%; for young people age 20-24, nearly 14%. There are not enough jobs to go around. Each week, we're bringing you true stories of unemployment from the unemployed. This is what's happening out there.
Consider the predicament of today's aspiring member of the white collar leisure class: all of the old ways of doing things seem to be falling apart. Law school, once the fallback of choice for lightly-motivated college educated upper middle class twentysomethings who weren't ready to face The Real World after graduation, is no longer a safe bet at all. Well, how about business school? No, no, no.
America's official unemployment rate is 7.7%. That doesn't reflect the millions of people who have dropped out of the labor force. Millions are set to lose their unemployment benefits at the end of the year. Each week, we're running true stories of unemployment, as told by the unemployed. This is what's happening out there.
The official unemployment rate fell to 7.7% last month. But that number is misleading. The percentage of workers who are actually considered to be "participating" in the labor force is now hovering around a three-decade low. Persistent, extended, unrelenting unemployment is now a fact of life for millions of Americans. Every week, we bring you true stories of unemployment, from the unemployed themselves. This is what's happening out there.
As millions of Americans wait to find out whether their unemployment benefits will completely disappear at the end of the year, European unemployment reaches a record high. There are lots of unemployed people in the world today. Each week, we bring you true stories of unemployment from the unemployed themselves. This is what's happening out there.
Nanny. Domestic caregiver. Housekeeper. These are some of the most difficult (and often demeaning) jobs in the American work force. How much do you pay your nanny? The national median is only $11 an hour. For housecleaners or "caregivers," the average is only $10, according to the "first-ever national statistical study of domestic workers," which was released today. It ain't hard to tell: domestic workers are in desperate need of a union.
America is in the midst of a prolonged unemployment crisis. For the past 15 weeks, we've been bringing you true stories of unemployment, directly from the unemployed. Despair, desperation, and depression have been common themes. So today—in honor of Thanksgiving—we're bringing you some stories with happy endings. Here now, a special Thanksgiving edition of Unemployment: It Gets Better.
Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor stopped by Sesame Street last week to offer young girls and boys some dream shattering-career advice, which basically boils down to: you'll never, ever be a princess, so start studying for law school now. The clip is actually adorable, and shows Sotomayor defining, in very kid friendly language, what exactly a career is ("a job you train for, or prepare for and plan on doing for a long time") and explaining various acceptable, non-princess job options, which are, "a teacher, a lawyer, a doctor, an engineer, and even a scientist." Even a scientist!
Yesterday, we told you that David Siegel, the humongously wealthy CEO who threatened to lay his workers off if Obama was reelected, did not, in fact, lay them off—he gave everyone raises. Unfortunately, not every boss is as kindly as the King of Versailles. Our call for news of Obama reelection-related layoffs brought in the following, from across the nation:
New research published in The Lancet today estimates that "rising unemployment may account for around a quarter of the excess suicides [above expected levels] observed in the US since 2007"—nearly 400 extra deaths per year. Our unemployment crisis is far from over. Each week, we're bringing you true stories from the unemployed. Teachers, cops, freelancers, you, me, us: this is what's happening out there.
To close a prison is a good thing, assuming that the prison is being closed for lack of prisoners to fill it, because prison is a horrific (if sometimes necessary) institution, and the intelligent minimization of the number of our fellow citizens who have to be locked in prison is an intrinsic good. So why are people so opposed to closing down a prison in their own community?
As of last month, 1.8 million Americans have been unemployed so long that their benefits have run out. "Those who've given up looking slip out of the labor force, into what is sometimes called "nonemployment,'" Businessweek says. "Researchers know remarkably little about them." Each week, we're bringing you the true stories of the unemployed, in their own words. This is what's happening out there.
Way back during the Republican primaries, presidential candidate and creepy son-maker Mitt Romney once famously declared his love for firing people. Today, a report from the New York Times clarifies Romney's definition of fireable people as anyone who he has not worked with closely (i.e. played at least one round of golf with).
