« BACK  |  PRINT

RS

FRONT PAGE CONTRIBUTOR

Unemployment rate up to 9.8%.

By: Moe Lane (Diary)  |  October 2nd, 2009 at 08:56 AM  | 

RESIZE: AAA

Unsurprising – at least, unsurprising to me - yet not good:

WASHINGTON (AP) — The unemployment rate rose to 9.8 percent in September as employers cut more jobs than expected, evidence that the longest recession since the 1930s is still inflicting widespread pain.

And here’s the really cheery news:

If laid-off workers who have settled for part-time work or have given up looking for new jobs are included, the unemployment rate rose to 17 percent, the highest on records dating from 1994.

See the raw numbers here. I’m starting to notice the little details of higher unemployment, mostly in retail situations. It can be summed up as “customer service is generally better, when you can track somebody down to give you some.” Couple that with the indicators of a sour economy (if you do your own food shopping, you’ve noticed the problems with the produce aisle in your local supermarket; if you don’t, go ask somebody who does) and I’m not quite as cheery this morning as I could be.

Moe Lane

Crossposted to Moe Lane.

Tags:

COMMENTS

POSTING RULES  |  LOGIN TO COMMENT  |  REGISTER TODAY
  • http://www.nighttwister.com NightTwister

    You know, the ones in Chicago in 2016…

  • http://www.jeannie-ology.com jeannieology

    Preparing for the “Rail-Tie Olympics”

    Handing out condoms in school yards via the Kevin Jennings sponsored Roman Polanski Safe School Initiative

    Removing kidneys from anyone with two in the Halve/Halve-Not Organ Donation Program sponsored by Cass Sunstein

    Shovel Ready jobs – digging graves for all the Health Care induced dead people

    …and many more to come

    www.jeannie-ology.com

  • Jack_Savage

    1) With the rhetoric of the War On American Business originating from Washington, this is going to get worse. Psychology is such an important part of decision making on the part of business people, and the mood among those who hire is dour to say the least. Small business people are especially morose, and most owners have put in place plans to operate and survive with only a few very key employees and family. I talk tpo them every day. Some have even made plans to keep licenses and business structure in place, then go dormant for a period of time.

    2) Who cares, anyway? What does work have to do with survival when anyone can make a fine living milking government programs these days? And with Obama, excessive work / profits / lifestyle are passe’, so why bother? Half the people of this country voted to put themselves at the feet of the government – what else could we expect?

    3) The stimulus is a complete crock – most of it is payoffs to cronies and transfers of wealth to blue state governments in order to keep them from imploding. I just got an extensive list of federal buildings that will be constructed with hundreds of billions in stimulus money, and every single one of them – every single one – has stringent “Green Building” requirements that will simply mean that Kleiner Perkins rakes in even more cash, and we will get far. far less for our money.

    4) Every private economist / consultant that we have talked to / hired expects this to last THROUGH 2011. Every one.

    This is a nuclear explosion in slow motion.

  • http://dezignworx-ae.com tsquare

    Moe: What are you noticing in the produce aisle? I shop at least every week and would like to know what it is that you are seeing.

    Thanks

  • http://dezignworx-ae.com tsquare

    I wrote this (below) commenting on one of those AP stories that took the tone: ‘things are getting better!’

    Rarely do you have the opportunity to see more raw BS outside of an election year in a alleged news article.

    “Last year, consumers were shellshocked as they worried about what might happen to the economy,” said Mark Vitner, senior economist at Wells Fargo. “Today, shoppers don’t have the means to step up spending.”

    People have the means to step up spending? they lack the will. Check out the huge gain in the savings rate) 90% of the nation is working? but is scared silly that they would be under this administration.

    It called consumer confidence for a reason folks? and right now there isn?t any.

    Nobody knows what?s going to happen so they are sitting on their hands and wallets and waiting. This administration not only offers no solutions, everything they have done has been wrong and as a result has not worked. The 1.2 trillion ?stimulus? that didn?t stimulate is a prime example. Our President promised us that if Congress passed it? unread? that unemployment would not go over 8% So much for that.

    This Christmas will be an unqualified disaster? look at WalMart? one chain doing ?well? in all this. They are offering ?10 toys for (under) 10 dollars? They know how people feel? and are acting accordingly.

    The media is out trying to ?cheer lead? the people into spending as to make Obama the hero? it isn?t going to work. The people are too smart for that.

  • http://www.patrickscartoons.com Patrick_Murdock

    I’ve been actively on the job hunt here in NC for a couple of months now and I can tell you that things are very challenging.

    I had not had any luck landing a job and was getting very few replies to resumes submitted for open positions. So, I attended a job fair in Raleigh last week seeking some additional guidance on landing a job by attending a couple of workshops that I thought would be helpful to me (and they were).

    At one of the workshops, a presenter noted that a large area software company reported that they had received 2,500 applications for one job (position was not revealed). That news was a bit disheartening and no doubt the extreme example.

    But in any case, the workshops were good, and as one professional stated who had been unemployed for 11 months (he was a professional probably in his mid-late fifties) that faith had gotten him through the tough days and would bring him through it – and it would help us as well.

    In both workshops not once was it mentioned that government would get us through it. Sure, it was noted about government resources or jobs but only in the same way other resources and jobs were mentioned.

    The overriding theme that I got from both was that “we will make it through this”, “you will make it through this.”

    So, with this comment, I go back to “it.”

  • http://www.theminorityreportblog.com/blog/loren_heal Socrates

    to the Historic Presidency.

  • Rod_Patrick

    LET’S VOTE HIM AND HIS MINIONS OUT OF OFFICE!

  • Streiff

    by the Obama Administration Economic Miracle

  • The_Gadfly

    The number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks and over) rose by 450,000 to 5.4 million. In September, 35.6 percent of unemployed persons were job-less for 27 weeks or more.

    About 2.2 million persons were marginally attached to the labor force in September, an increase of 615,000 from a year earlier. (The data are not seasonally adjusted.) These individuals were not in the labor force, wanted and were available for work, and had looked for a job sometime in the prior 12 months. They were not counted as unemployed because they had not searched for work in the 4 weeks preceding the survey.

    Among the marginally attached, there were 706,000 discouraged workers in September, up by 239,000 from a year earlier. (The data are not seasonally adjusted.) Discouraged workers are persons not currently looking for work because they believe no jobs are available for them. The other 1.5 million persons marginally attached to the labor force in September had not searched for work in the 4 weeks preceding the survey for reasons such as school attendance or family responsibilities.

    That’s a lot of discouraged workers. I’m sure there would be nightly news stories about them if Reagan were in office.

  • azred

    Is the policy makers are
    a) clueless beyond belief
    b) in denial of the real causes of the meltdown
    c) more interested in paying back those that keep them in office (and that would not be the voting public)
    d) more interested in blaming someone else for their own pathetic ineptitude
    e) TO DAMN LAZY TO READ THE BILL!
    f) Lastly – THEY ARE NOTHING BUT BOUGHT AND PAID FOR SHEEP!

    ____________________________________________________
    If the revolution doesn’t take place in Nov/2010 – it will take place Dec/2010.