Comments on: Economists: 9.8% Unemployment Ahead

By: wj

wj — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 19:34:15 +0000

The economy, having a lot of inertia, will likely continue to tank for another year or so. Even though the country may arguably be heading in the right direction now, it’s going to take a while to slow the fall, let alone start back up.

So yes, unemployment will continue to rise. Probably at least thru next winter. And there will continue to be a lot of us working part time when we might prefer to work more.

And there will continue to be people who are totally mystified why these things are happening and the public persists in thinking that the country is now on the right track. But the public looks to be just a tad smarter than the self-proclaimed leaders of the opposition.

By: J. Harden

J. Harden — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 19:03:21 +0000

Luckily, now that GM is owned by the federal government, they can put a lot of pople to work building shitty cars that no one buys. Government doesn’t require silly, evil “markets” — they require only guns.

Alternatively, in my stimulus-happy-place, we should all achieve underemployment so as to spend much more time at Disney World. We are on the right track Kranky, calm down and give it time.

By: Donna Thomas

Donna Thomas — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 18:34:11 +0000

The underemployment number is higher not because people are working part time but because they haven’t taken enough part time jobs. Yes, it is difficult to have more than one part time job because of scheduling conflicts but there are alternatives which would decrease that underemployment rate. For example a social employment site like YaaZe allows users looking for a job to highlight their hours of availability and in turn gives the employer with an ease of a click the opportunity to hire someone who fits their needed shifts. The problem exists because of scheduling conflicts. Eliminate that conflict and you’d see the rate fall with people taking on 1+ part time jobs.

By: kranky kritter

kranky kritter — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 16:52:37 +0000

Wait, I thought you just told us that we were on the right track? LOL.

BTW, if you are going to keep shopping that scary “underemployment” number, the least you could do is provide historical figures that allow us to compare current times to other times. Otherwise, it’s fairly meaningless expect to scare folks.

For at least several months now, the rate of growth in UEC numbers has been suggesting that the peak would probably come in the 9.5 to 11.5 range. This illustrates why its important to understand basic at-a-glance data analysis. It helps you to contextualize the prognostications of economists named Rose E Scenario. It’s a virtual given that many prognosticators were told to report “any number you want as long as its less than 10.”