Margaret
Chin, NYC Concilwoman, has a staffer whose reply to District 1 voters
complaining about zero competent services to help severely marginalized
long-term unemployed US citizens in NYC District 1 is "We aren't an
employment agency." The percentage of such citizens unable to find jobs
for years on end is over 9% (not 3-4%). The exact same answer was given by the
staffer of US Rep. Nydia Velasquez.
The
apathy is stunning. The ignorance of the facts and statistics regarding
long-term unemployed US citizens living in New York State and NYC who are
looking to find a way to earn a living an failing year after year is extremely
disturbing.
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EXCERPT: Discouraged workers are also excluded
from the new and improved unemployment rate; this figure is approximately 770,000 and is on the rise. It is
commonly known that the longer individuals are out of work, the more difficult
it is to find employment. This is due to the job search naturally being less
fervent as time goes on and the increased likelihood that employed candidates
will be selected ahead of the unemployed. It’s a vicious cycle, and one that
has encouraged those stuck in this loop to exit the workforce altogether. When
taking these statistics into consideration, the U6 unemployment figure, which
remains at an elevated level of 11.5
percent, gives a more holistic view of the labour market, but is rarely
used for obvious reasons.
Another
figure that has barely moved is the long-term
unemployment rate, (referring to those without work for periods of 27 weeks
or more), which remained at around 2.7
million in February (see Fig. 2). This figure is often overlooked, yet
accounts for almost a third of the total number of unemployed people in the US.
Paying undue attention to this section of the population is dangerous in terms
of its potential for further lowering the labour participation rate, because
the longer individuals stay in this pool, the more likely it becomes that they
will leave the labour market. [Elizabeth Matsangou, “US unemployment figures
could be misleading us all,” World Finance, May 1, 2015]
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ALSO
“Out of work for six months or
more? Here's why you can't find a job,”
Richard Eisenberg, “What The Older, Long-Term
Unemployed Need,” Forbes, Aug 10, 2017
Nick
Buffie, “Extreme long-term unemployment in the US is at 'unprecendented'
levels. It could pose a risk to future growth,” World Economic Forum, Sep. 3,
2016
Alternate Unemployment Charts
The seasonally-adjusted SGS Alternate Unemployment Rate reflects current unemployment reporting methodology adjusted for SGS-estimated long-term discouraged workers, who were defined out of official existence in 1994. That estimate is added to the BLS estimate of U-6 unemployment, which includes short-term discouraged workers.
The
U-3 unemployment rate is the monthly headline number. The U-6 unemployment
rate is the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ (BLS) broadest unemployment measure,
including short-term discouraged and other marginally-attached workers as well
as those forced to work part-time because they cannot find full-time employment.
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