Are American Workers Facing a Jobless Recovery?
Since the recession started in December 2007, the economy has shed a staggering 6.9 million jobs, the highest number of job losses since the Great Depression. High unemployment has put a serious damper on the economy. It’s simple – if people don’t have jobs, they can’t spend money. The reduction in consumer spending ripples through every sector of the economy – touching such key business areas as housing and manufacturing, and influencing the prices of such everyday items as gasoline and food. The most commonly quoted number in the media is the “official” unemployment rate, which now stands at 9.7%. But to get the real picture, you have to add in what the government refers to as “discouraged” workers and “marginally attached” workers – those who have stopped looking for work, or who haven’t looked for work recently. Add those in and the U.S. unemployment rate starts to approach 17%. And it gets even worse. If you include the people that the government doesn’t even count – such as unemp
