America's
Damaged Workforce
by Rev. Paul
J. Bern
If we could
find a least common denominator for the complaints of the Occupy and
99% Movements, one of the things America is most furious about would
be the lack of jobs and the damage it has done to America's
workforce. While unemployment is
at historically high levels considering the economy is supposed to be
in recovery mode, the tragedy of long-term unemployment is especially
troublesome. The longer a person remains jobless the more difficult
it is to find new work. Many prospective employers often disparage
the long-term unemployed for being lazy, having out-of-date skills
and not having the confidence to step into a new position. And on top
of that some companies including PMG Indiana, Sony Ericsson and
retailers nationwide have explicitly barred the unemployed or
long-term unemployed from certain job openings, outright telling them
in job ads that they need not apply.
With
the numbers of long-term unemployed increasing, it may be reasonable
to think a great deal of effort is being expended to address the
issue. Unfortunately, that is not the case. More time and effort is
being spent cutting unemployment benefits than devising job or
retraining programs. Why is so little being done for the 6.3 million
long-term unemployed? Why have 99-'ers
been
abandoned by Congress and the White House? They seem more inclined to
cut social safety net programs in order to continue tax cuts for the
wealthy. There are 2.5 million US households earning more than
$250,000 a year as of the end of 2011. These 2.5 million households
are given an inordinate amount of congressional and executive branch
attention compared to the 6.3 million households experiencing
long-term unemployment. Are the families of the wealthy more
deserving of taxpayer benefits than the families of the long-term
unemployed? The actions of Congress and the executive seem to
indicate that is the case.
The Great
Recession has cost US workers millions of jobs and those jobs have
not come back as quickly as they disappeared, and in many cases those
jobs will never return. According to the Economic Policy Institute,
“In total, there are 6.9 million fewer jobs today than there were
in December 2007.” Seven million jobs vanishing in just four years,
the media has failed to present the unemployment problem, with all
its associated economically devastating consequences, for what it
truly is. There is passing mention of discouraged workers and the
underemployed, but the true scale of the jobs crisis isn't given
anywhere near enough attention considering the magnitude of the
problem. What follows are some unemployment details that mass media
under reports or ignores completely.
[1] The
jobs deficit: That is the total number of jobs lost plus jobs
that should have been created since the recession began in December
2007. There are 6.9 million fewer jobs [in 2011] than at the start of
the Great Recession, but that tells only half the tale of the jobs
deficit. There is also the matter of creating jobs to keep up with
the increase in workforce population. Those new workers include high
school and college graduates, plus immigrants. The number of jobs
that need to be created each month to accommodate new entrants into
the workforce ranges from 120,000 - 150,000. Adding together the jobs
lost since the recession and the new jobs needed for population
growth, the total jobs deficit is estimated to be 11.3 million. A
massive effort such as a public works program is required to fill
that absolutely enormous jobs hole.
[2]
Filling the jobs deficit: According to EPI: “To fill that gap
in three years – by mid-2015—while still keeping up with the
growth in the working-age population—would require adding around
400,000 jobs every single month. To fill the gap in five years—by
mid-2017—would mean adding 280,000 jobs each month.
[3] There
is a monthly BLS report giving an indication of the number of
unemployed per job opening, which stands currently at 4.9. The 4.9
unemployed per job opening is limited to the 14 million U3 unemployed
(the 9.1 percent). But those aren’t the only unemployed wanting a
full-time job. There are the 2.6 million marginally attached workers
and 8.8 million underemployed (those who want full-time work, but are
working part-time). I’m not going to include the 3.9 million
non-unemployed unemployed. When those 11.4 million workers are
included with the 14 million U3 unemployed, there are 25.4 million
workers and 3.2 million jobs, or 8 unemployed or underemployed
workers per job opening. In addition, part-time jobs are included in
job openings counts; however, there is no difference between full and
part-time positions. It is only determined if the position exists,
not which type of position it is. However, it’s important to know
how many job openings are part-time, since part-time jobs usually pay
less and offer fewer, if any, benefits. Currently there are
139,627,000 employed workers, of which 27,034,000 are part-timers.
More than 19 percent of all workers work part-time. If nearly 20
percent of all available job openings are part-time, there are only
2.56 million full-time jobs for 25.4 million unemployed and
underemployed who want full-time work, or 10 workers for each
available full-time position; more than double the 4.9 workers per
job opening touted by most media outlets.
[4]
Marginally attached workers: From the Bureau of Labor Statistics,
“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.” Currently
2.6 million workers are considered marginally attached. If they are
included in the unemployment rate, that rate increases from 9.1
percent to 10.6 percent.
[5] The
underemployed: The number of persons employed part time for
economic reasons (sometimes referred to as involuntary part-time
workers). These individuals were working part time because their
hours had been cut back or because they were unable to find a
full-time job. The “real” unemployment rate increases to 16.2
percent when the underemployed and marginally attached workers are
considered. There is a point at which the BLS stops considering an
unemployed person unemployed. That point is reached when an
unemployed person has not look for a job in the previous 12 months.
When asked, the BLS replied, “The 3.9 million individuals not in
the labor force that you are referring to responded that they wanted
a job, but had not looked for a job in the last 12 months. They are
not considered unemployed because they had not actively searched for
work in the four weeks preceding the survey.” I recall no mention
of these 3.9 million from any mass media outlet. This 3.9 million are
the most discouraged of discouraged workers, but if the jobs market
was improving, these millions would start to become part of the
unemployed once more. If these 3.9 million were added to the “real”
unemployment rate (U6) the rate would increase from 16.2 percent to
19 percent. Nearly one in five American workers is either unemployed
or underemployed.
[6] The
long-term unemployed: These are the 6 million-plus jobless who
have been looking for work for 6 months or more (not including the
not-unemployed unemployed). Long-term unemployment receives
occasional mass media recognition, but it scratches only the surface.
There are subsets of the long-term unemployed that show the depth of
the problem more clearly. The 6.0 million long-term unemployed
represent 43.1 percent of all unemployed. Of that 6 million, 4.458
million have been jobless for 52 or more weeks and within that group
2.040 million, a record high, have been unemployed for 99 weeks or
more (hence the term “99'ers”).
How many
unemployed collect unemployment benefits? It may seem reasonable to
assume that all 14 million unemployed collect unemployment insurance
benefits, but that is not the case. In September 2011 7.17 million
unemployed collected benefits, which is only 51 percent of all
unemployed. What message can be taken from this list of realistic and
discomforting unemployment figures? The bottom line is that
unemployment is much, much worse than the 9.1 percent unemployment
figure pushed by the media and many lawmakers. Unemployment and jobs
creation throughout America are national emergencies demanding
focused attention with a wide-ranging and rapid response. This
American jobs disaster will not vanish if neglected, but what will
vanish are the hopes, dreams and financial well-being of millions of
hard-working Americans. And THAT is why we Occupy!
Where are
our jobs? That's what everyone wants to know, and our current batch
of “leaders” in Washington are either unwilling or incapable of
coming up with an intelligent answer. They are trying to articulate
what middle America already knows, which is that the jobs that
couldn't be outsourced overseas to the third world were rightsized
and downsized out of existence. Middle America is unemployed because
that is exactly what the top 1% want. They planned it to turn out
this way all the long. And so there is nothing wrong with the system
as far as the top 1% are concerned. To them, it is working just fine.
The salaries formerly paid to all of us from the 99% have been
redirected back to the overseas bank accounts of corporate America,
and all the former workers have been kicked to the curb. But the top
1% forgot about something in the course of their financial and
military conquests. When they put millions of American workers out of
work they forgot that consumer spending comprises over two thirds of
the US economy. Since few, if any of us, have any extra money to
spend these days, when US worker's incomes dry up so will much of the
US economy, and the hard times that many are currently experiencing
will seem like child's play in another year or two, three at the
most. That means that by the middle of this decade we may be looking
at the end of capitalism, or at least as we have known it. The
warning signs are already all around us.
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