Jobless rate takes turn for worse
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The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics had some grim statistics for out-of-work Americans on Friday even as federal lawmakers debated whether to reauthorize the extension of unemployment benefits.
The nation's unemployment rate rose in November to 9.8 percent, up two-tenths of a percentage point from the last three months, which all logged unemployment rates of 9.6 percent. Economists had been expecting stronger results and the stock market slipped in early trading but rebounded later.
Among the jobless, the average length of unemployment is now 33.8 weeks. There are 6.3 million Americans who have been out of work longer than the 26 weeks covered by standard unemployment benefits.
Economists met Friday's jobs report nearly universally with words such as bleak, grim and disappointing.
"It's just a horrendous report," said Christine Riordan, a policy analyst with the National Employment Law Project. "That this happened at the same time Congress allowed all these federal extensions to lapse -- it's really mind blowing."
While private sector employment grew last month, as it has for the last 12 months, the 50,000 new private sector jobs were not enough to overcome population growth and 11,000 lost government jobs.
November marks the 19th month that the nation's unemployment rate has been above 9 percent. That ties the Great Recession with a recessionary period in 1982 and 1983, the only other time high unemployment has persisted this long since World War II. In the downturn of the early 1980s, the unemployment rate in the 19th month was 9.2 percent, making it likely that the current recession will break records set then.
Dean Baker, the co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research, a Washington D.C.-based policy group, noted the employment-to-population ratio statistic released Friday is another way to look at the labor market.
The report showed the ratio at 58.2, which is the proportion of the working-age population in the workforce. The current level now equals the previous low point of this recession. The last time the employment-to-population ratio was this low was 1983.
First Published December 4, 2010 12:00 am
