{unemployed} The Forgotten Americans

[xchrom]

http://www.nationofchange.org/forgotten-americans-1373291305

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The Forgotten

Today the headlines cheered the latest unemployment figures as if they were some sort of victory, not the continuation of a human tragedy for millions of Americans. Apparently our political leaders don’t want to talk about their suffering, perhaps because they’re not willing to expend “political capital” by trying to help them. And our journalistic class, by and large, hasn’t bothered to understand what’s happening in our country.

So millions of Americans have joined the ranks of the long-term unemployed – and the long-term forgotten.

How bad is it? The official unemployment rate is unchanged, at 7.6 percent, but even that figure – well above the accepted “full employment” rate of 5 percent – barely scratches the surface. As Drew DeSilver points out, the seasonally adjusted length of unemployment – a real indicator of extended human suffering – is 35.6 weeks, barely down from its high of 40.7 weeks at the worst of the crisis.

Before Wall Street wrecked the economy in 2008 the average duration was 16 to 17 weeks – less than half of what it remains today.

[devils chaplain]

1. Do conservatives realize...

The destruction of the human spirit they've unleashed by valuing low inflation over low unemployment? Or do they just not care?

Long bouts of unemployment, particularly for men (not trying to be sexist, but studies bear this out) leave emotional scars for life.