Rome is burning: 20% of American men do not have jobs
You are familiar of course with the unemployment rate, which would be at 10.4%, had not the labor force decreased by 661,000 in December. You may not be familiar with the employment rate, that percentage of the US adult population that has a job. The employment rate is now 58.2%, the lowest since August of 1983. Even more disturbing is the employment rate among men:
According to an analysis done by TIME Magazine’s Justin Fox, almost 20% of 25-54 year old men are unemployed today, a receord since the Bureau of Labor Statistics started keeping track of the data just after World War II. An unemployment rate of 20% among men in their prime is shocking. Absent the substantial government transfer payments today and the large labor force participation by women, the 20% male unemployment figure would be regarded as a national emergency.
Rome is burning. And yet Congress and the administration fiddle with crooked healthcare deals, tomfoolery such as AGW, perverse nonsense like cap and trade, imaginary “green” jobs, the treating of enemy combatants as mere crooks, etc. — and their policies towards hostile powers are even more ill-informed and provocatively weak. It’s hard to imagine a government more out of step with the people.
January 11th, 2010 at 6:18 am
It’s hard to imagine a government more out of step with REALITY.
January 11th, 2010 at 8:13 am
With unemployment that high, I am surprised there is no social unrest as in riots and protests.
January 11th, 2010 at 3:26 pm
http://tinyurl.com/y88mx4r
Re: the jobs picture, White House Council of Economic Advisers chief Christina Romer said: “The sense that we need to do more is overwhelming.”
Does it ever occur to public officials to try doing LESS?
January 12th, 2010 at 8:47 am
I wonder what the tipping point actually is?
On the local front, teachers get raises, property taxes rise, and the private sector continues to hemorrhage jobs. In the national news, government workers get exceptional pay and benefits, private sector jobs disappear.
They are running out of things to steal.
January 12th, 2010 at 8:59 am
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January 12th, 2010 at 10:51 am
And today’s big news- The money spent on those “shovel ready” jobs has had ZERO effect on creating any jobs whatsoever. So our idiot non-representation wants to do another stimulus package on top of Cap and Trade, Healthcare and priviate company takeovers.
We are at the proverbial “John Galt tipping point” since now we officially have less than 50% of all Americans paying taxes. I say let Atlas shrug.