Jobs Situation Getting Worse for Full-Time Workers

Friday’s employment situation report showed that things have taken a turn for the worse for full-time workers, with the full-time unemployment level jumping to 13,901,000 workers, or 11.1% of the civilian workforce, very near the highest rate seen in 41 years.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics considers full-time workers to be those “who have expressed a desire to work full time (35 hours or more per week) or are on layoff from full-time jobs”.

Full-time jobless workers currently account for 88.5% of all unemployed workers. (Click chart to enlarge.)

Comments

[Mad Hedge F...:]

bfe Ouch! Another 190,000 jobs went down the crapper in October, taking unemployment rate to a new 27 year high of 10.2%. Add in discouraged job seekers, and that puts the jobless rate at gut churning 17.5%, and over 20% in California. Along with yesterday’s stunning, gob smacking 9.5% increase in Q3 productivity, the figures point a giant arc spotlight on what is really happening in the economy. Companies are still firing workers en mass to boost profits. After getting blood from a stone they are returning to the same rock for one more drop. I guess if I fire myself, the profitability of my business would go through the roof too, and maybe even my stock would rise. At least then I would then be rid of my oldest, most expensive but least productive employee, who is the worst to get along with, max’s out his sick and vacation days, and wears the same clothes to work every day, even when there lipstick on the collar. But then who would write this daily letter? Maybe Cecelia, my cleaning lady, would do it. She’s cheap. You don’t mind getting this letter in Spanish, do you? ¡Andale! This explains why when you go into Office Depot these days, there is only one minimum waged employee standing at the cash register, the hours on the phone I have to wait to get technical support from Dell, and the endless unmovable lines at Citibank. America’s service economy has become all about denying service to customers. The scary thing is, with companies firing their way to prosperity, what happens when we get another dip? My theory is that the US has entered an era of chronically high employment that is never going away, no matter what the government does. Goodbye USA, hello Germany!

Nov 06 06:49 PM

[Hillsfar:]

What can be outsourced to another country, is being outsourced.
What can be relocated to another state or city providing tax breaks, is being done.
What can be done with fewer people, is being done with fewer people.
What can be done with lower wage workers, is being done with lower wage workers.
What can be done with cheaper technology, is being done with cheaper technology.

So what is it that the increasing population of urban workers today are to do when they can't even grow their own food or raise their own livestock?

Increasingly, they live on welfare and social programs. That is why 1 in 5 residents of Los Angeles is on some form of monetary assistance from the government. 60% of California mothers are on subsidized nutrition paid for by the government...

Nov 07 03:06 PM