tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7895164153505105997.post907160967636878439..comments2024-01-17T00:45:37.075-08:00Comments on Bud Meyers: 15 Million Americans Jobless Over 2 yearsBud Meyershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02065020063363023395noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7895164153505105997.post-87580113722653952582012-01-09T15:54:43.624-08:002012-01-09T15:54:43.624-08:00first, re the quote you put in a jan 7 update [&qu...first, re the quote you put in a jan 7 update ["Younger workers are increasingly giving up hope of finding a job, in part because older workers are hanging on to their jobs longer than they had planned, as their retirement funds and home values are depleted."]:<br /><br />we'll see much more of that if retirement age gets raised to fix social security.<br /><br />2nd, i'm not sure participation rate is really unusually low. according to this graph [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:US_Labor_Participation_Rate_1948-2011_by_gender.svg], the rate didn't get up to 64% before the early 1980s. it's been falling for men since the 1950s and rose for women till the late 1990s, when it began to level off. it's only been falling for women for a couple years.<br /><br />if there's a rise of delayed retirements, young people unable to find first jobs might stay in school longer and not get counted in the labor force, resulting in lower participation. but apparently the number of early retirements is growing [http://money.msn.com/retirement-plan/should-you-take-social-security-early-smartmoney.aspx], which seems to contradict the quote.<br /><br />boomer demographics. i dunno....d novahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12335357091737770718noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7895164153505105997.post-30763798081709943862012-01-09T11:41:33.864-08:002012-01-09T11:41:33.864-08:00See these links for charts and break down of jobs ...See these links for charts and break down of jobs created and the "participation rate" of the work force.<br /><br />http://advisorperspectives.com/dshort/guest/Lance-Roberts-120107-Employment-Situation.php<br /><br />http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2012/01/fundamental-and-mathematical-case-for.htmlBud Meyershttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02065020063363023395noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7895164153505105997.post-23079016396724996532012-01-07T19:33:48.792-08:002012-01-07T19:33:48.792-08:00i don't think it's accurate to call the BL...i don't think it's accurate to call the BLS's CPS "flawed." it may be valid to argue that their definition of "unemployed" is too limited and should be changed, but the unemployment rate from the CPS is still a useful statistic. it lets us see changes over time and relative rates for different periods for people who are actively seeking work. as far as i can see, that's all it's meant to do. discouraged and underemployed workers are not part of it, and those figures come from other data.d novahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12335357091737770718noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7895164153505105997.post-44748205433779350872012-01-07T10:35:28.710-08:002012-01-07T10:35:28.710-08:00U.S. being used as a reason for cheaper wages else...U.S. being used as a reason for cheaper wages elsewhere!<br /><br />"Trying to persuade locked-out workers in Canada to accept a sharp cut in pay, Caterpillar Inc. is citing lower wages elsewhere. But instead of pointing to the usual models of cheap and pliant labor, such as China or Mexico, it is using a more surprising example: the U.S."<br /> <br />http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204331304577142983208038646.html<br /><br />It's not necessarily over-regulation or high taxes, it's lower wages overseas that trumps the aforementioned. How can American workers compete when engineers in China are paid the same as McDonalds workers here in the United States? And how can anyone compete with robots? We can't.<br /><br />http://bud-meyers.blogspot.com/2011/12/where-jobs-are.htmlBud Meyershttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02065020063363023395noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7895164153505105997.post-26081491291897275872012-01-07T10:21:03.789-08:002012-01-07T10:21:03.789-08:00UPDATES:
"Younger workers are increasingly g...UPDATES:<br /><br />"Younger workers are increasingly giving up hope of finding a job, in part because older workers are hanging on to their jobs longer than they had planned, as their retirement funds and home values are depleted."<br /><br />http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/01/06/economists-take-solace-but-only-a-little-in-jobs-report/<br /><br />Under Obama, a Record Decline in Government Jobs - Despite what Republicans say, "the Obama administration has turned out to be anything but a 'big-government' one."<br /><br />http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/01/06/under-obama-a-record-decline-in-government-jobs/<br /><br />"About a third of all jobs created in that period have been in relatively low-paying sectors...and temporary help services account for about 15 percent of all new jobs added...and 8.5 million are working part time because they cannot secure a full-time position."<br /><br />http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/01/05/signs-of-hope-on-jobs-and-some-caveats/<br /><br />"State and local governments are continuing to adjust their government employee levels to actual revenues. No more artificially inflated payrolls due to deficit-financed federal stimulus....the still-low labor force participation rate, which remained unchanged at 64%. That is down .3% from a year ago. In 2007 when jobs were plentiful the labor force participation rate was 66%. The two percentage point decline is the equivalent of about three million fewer Americans working or looking for work."<br /><br />http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203471004577144970778138692.htmlBud Meyershttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02065020063363023395noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7895164153505105997.post-63884281578225507192012-01-07T08:46:16.583-08:002012-01-07T08:46:16.583-08:00It only stands to reason that if 15.7 million Amer...It only stands to reason that if 15.7 million Americans were unemployed 2 years ago, and only 3.2 million jobs were created since that time, then at the VERY LEAST there must still be 12.5 million who have been out of work for 99 weeks or more.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com