San Francisco Chronicle: 88 million out of work and not looking for a job

[stockholmer]

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2012/02/08/BUIQ1N3RH8.DTL#ixzz1mjz1b1U3

Number of the day

88 million

That's how many working-age Americans don't have a job and aren't trying to find one. The increase in people dropping out of the labor market altogether skews the otherwise-positive unemployment numbers released last week. While the jobless rate fell to 8.3 percent in January - a three-year low - it doesn't account for this army of nonworking Americans. The percentage of people participating in the labor market dropped to 63.7 percent last month, the lowest level since May 1983.

snip

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This is the largest absolute jump in 'Persons Not In Labor Force' on record...and biggest percentage jump in 30 years.



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related:

BBC programme Panorama

Poor America

[jannyk]

1. k&r

[Initech]

2. People don't want to work for the shit wages, hours, and conditions offered. Period.

[FogerRox]

5. Yup. In 2011 we saw median income and average wages drop

after 30 years of downward wage pressure, that rubs more salt into the wounds as more and more have their future stolen from them.

[Initech]

9. And it seems to be getting worse.

I'm becoming more and more convinced that there's only one true group of people in this world that can be accurately called terrorists - and that's the billionaire class. They have got out of control since Dumbass took office in 2000 and our wages and financial situations have become worse and worse.

The damage they have done to our economy is untold and it will continue unless we stop it.

[FogerRox]

10. GINI index paused for 2 years and then

in 2011 showed increased income/wealth disparity. SO yeah its getting worse, with more to come.

[bhikkhu]

3. There are more roles in society than "working for wages"

God forbid that we jump on the bandwagon for the idea that every adult who's not a lazy slacker must be bringing home a paycheck.

Historically, a 60% labor participation rate is pretty good,and if wages were better these days, we'd probably have that - along with a happier and healthier society, and much more personal opportunity.

[girl gone mad]

8. Work should be available to anyone who wants it.

We, as a nation and as a society, have embraced a capitalistic economic system. It's unfair to force people to live under this system while simultaneously depriving them of the ability to thrive within the system.

No, it isn't good to have a low labor force participation rate when an individual's quality of life is largely determined by whether or not the individual can sell his or her labor and what wage he or she can command for the labor.

[FogerRox]

4. How many would take a decent job if offered

88 million includes stay at home wives, college students, uber rich who dont have to have a job etc, those on welfare, SS disability.

A much fairer number would be 25 million..

From Nov 2011:

The national debate about how to jump-start the economy is focused on creating jobs for the 25 million Americans who are unemployed.
http://blog.nj.com/njv_guest_blog/2011/11/gov_chris_christie_should_push.html

[chaska]

6. We're watching the early days of the end of the industrial age....

Things will get a little better in the short term ... before getting worse. Stair-stepping our way back down to an agrarian society again. See peak oil ... which we hit in 2005, or so it so far appears.

Another issue unrelated to the above is that we didn't fix the problems that caused the current meltdown. The next bubble (probably related to natural gas) that bursts will take us down bigtime.

[onethatcares]

7. less than a minute into the bullshit of "poor America"

the real meme came out. "what happened to President Obamas vision for America"

gauddammmint, don't these rightwing freaks ever look at the history of the past 30 years in A M E R I C A and who gave the middleclass the fucking?

[geek tragedy]

11. How many are students/early retirees/disabled/etc? N/t?