The June unemployment rate is in, and it’s not particularly encouraging.
Things had been looking up over the last few months. The jobs being lost weren’t necessarily uplifting, but they were starting to lessen in number. That all changed this month when the US lost an additional 467,000 jobs, bringing the unemployment rate up to 9.5%.
The unemployment rate hasn’t been this high since 1983 and well, I was wearing a diaper and drooling back then. For me, at least, this is the first real recession I’ve seen and I’ll admit that the changing reality of our economy scares the bejebus out of me.
We’re now in month 20 of the recession.
CHIME IN: How has it effected you? Have you lost your job, or are you afraid of losing it? Have you cut back on clothes, vacations, nights out on the town? Let us know in the comments section below.
9.5% is just the headline number. When you factor in those working part-time but want full-time work coupled with those discouraged and have stopped searching entirely, the so called augmented unemployment rate, the number is closer to 18%. That’s the real picture, not the headline number the government decides to post. Moreover the average work week is now hovering around 33 hours, which is a historic low. It suggests that more pain is imminent because average hours typically turn higher prior to a recovery in the labor market. This is because an employer will ask existing personnel to work more hours before committing to hire again.
I’ve digested this recession by sticking to basics and operating a budget. No more gluttony and a lot more frugality. Discipline, intelligence and the will to survive are the characteristics necessary to ride this out. Good luck to all. God bless America.