In October the national unemployment rate soared into double-digit territory for the first time in 26+ years, by unexpectedly jumping up from 9.8 to 10.2 percent.
The unemployment rate does not include workers who are involuntarily working only part time (1-34 hours) and with fewer benefits, if any, such as no health, disability or life insurance.
The unemployment rate also does not include “marginally-attached” unemployed workers who gave up looking for jobs for one reason or another and so, fell off the unemployment rolls before the numbers were tallied.
There were 9.3 million involuntarily part-timers and 2.4 million marginally-attached workers in October, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). Subsequently, the “real” October unemployment rate was more like 17.5 percent. According to the New York Times, it’s a new record high over the 17.1 percent previously set in December 1982.
The BLS also reported that the economy shed another 190,000 nonfarm jobs in October. As is often the case in times of a rising unemployment rate, construction, manufacturing and retail workers suffered the most job losses.
Nonfarm employment has now declined for 22 months in a row. The average job loss pace has slowed considerably compared to the peak of 645,000 jobs a month between November 2008 and April 2009; but, employers haven’t been hiring nearly enough unemployed job seekers to stop the unemployment rate from soaring into double digits.
The number of unemployed workers actively seeking employment increased 558,000 to 15.7 million in October. Of those, 5.6 million (35.6 percent) were unemployed for 27 weeks or longer. Worse, about 600,000 ran out of unemployment benefits in the last two months, according to the National Employment Law Project.
The good news is, President Obama approved an additional 14-20 weeks of extended unemployment benefits (Emergency Unemployment Compensation or EUC) today, when he signed the Worker, Homeownership and Business Assistance Act of 2009 into law.
Since the start of the recession in December 2007, the number of unemployed job seekers has increased by 8.2 million while the unemployment rate has more than doubled from 4.9 percent. At last count, there was a ratio of six job seekers to each job opening.
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The October unemployment rate of 10.2 percent was the highest since April 1983, when it was also 10.2 percent. The highest on record since 1948 was 10.8 percent set in November 1982.
It’s not uncommon for labor market recovery to lag behind economic recovery (growing gross domestic product or GDP) as a recession eases, because employers typically want to be sure that their bottom lines have improved before hiring employees or calling them back from layoffs.
Subsequently, President Obama’s administration expects a soft “jobless recovery” to the recession, with the unemployment rate averaging 9.8 percent in 2010, 8.6 percent in 2011 and 7.7 percent in 2012 (without further stimulus help), according to the New York Times. Meanwhile, some economists have indicated that they expect the unemployment rate to peak at near 11 percent in 2010.
If you’re a victim of job loss or a reduction in work hours resulting from the rising unemployment rate, then you might be eligible to collect full or partial unemployment benefits from the state unemployment office. You might also be eligible to continue your employer-provided group health insurance coverage through COBRA. Meanwhile, to look for a new job, start at the Job Search page.
The Stimulus Act (economic stimulus law or Recovery Act) provides a 65 percent COBRA subsidy to help eligible unemployed workers continue their employer-provided group health insurance benefits. The Act also provides additional unemployment benefits of significance, including Emergency Unemployment Compensation (extended unemployment benefits) authorized through 2009.
For more details about the October 2009 unemployment rate, see “The Employment Situation” by the BLS. The BLS plans to report the November 2009 unemployment rate on December 4. To receive notification like this, subscribe to Employee Rights Blog.
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Certain figures in this unemployment rate report are subject to revision by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The unemployment rate chart pictured above was provided by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
