Two states now report unemployment rates over 10%

reply to post by pmbhuntress


It is going to get worse before it gets better, but it will get better. May take some time but when we do pull out of this we will be stronger and better then ever before. There are plenty of jobs out there you just have to look. Unfortunatley you will end up taking a pay cut and will have to work harder then ever.

Originally posted by David9176
reply to post by tjeffersonsghost

 

Let's say the national unemployment is 17 percent.

If the population of the US is 300 million...

That comes out to 51 million people unemployed. If this is even remotely true it's quite startling to imagine.

That's a lot of people.

In 1930, around the great depression, the population was 123,000,000. The highest from what i can find was 25 percent although it could have been higher. I'm just using this estimate for the sake of comparison.

That equals 30,750,000 people unemployed.

There is 300 million people in the US. That counting stay at home moms, children, retired people, and babies. There is not 300 million people in the work force. The labor force is around 155 million including unemployed people. Edit it to add there were around 15 million unemployed during the depression but it doesnt matter because the numbers are all relative. And if you reverse the numbers there are still way more people employed today then there were back then. And to looking for some good news I found this.

Yet some economists said the report showed the brutal pace of job losses may have peaked as companies retrench and cut as much as possible.

"That scene wasn't as bloody as expected," said Jennifer Lee at BMO Capital Markets.

Some analysts had expected a far worse figure after a survey by payrolls firm ADP showing the private sector lost 693,000 jobs in December.

"The report is obviously terrible," said Cary Leahey, senior economist at Decision Economics.

"The only silver lining is that the pace of job declines is so severe that the market may conclude that the pace of adjustment will slow in the first quarter," he said.

Unemployment Rate The faster we bottom out the better. Once we start seeing the number reverse or even bottom out maybe we can get some confidence back and we might see things start to turn around.



[edit on 24-1-2009 by tide88]

[edit on 24-1-2009 by tide88]

Dont forget about the ratail sector. The shoe hasnt dropped on that yet. My wife works for a major dept store in a big mall, they just layed off a bunch of people last night and now have cut the store hours. Instead of closing at 10 they close at 8 now! There's going to be a boat load of retail stores closing the next year.

The machine is being shutdown for maintenance.

Lines ^2

Originally posted by crw2006
Dont forget about the ratail sector. The shoe hasnt dropped on that yet. My wife works for a major dept store in a big mall, they just layed off a bunch of people last night and now have cut the store hours. Instead of closing at 10 they close at 8 now! There's going to be a boat load of retail stores closing the next year.

The retail sector has been hit although not full scale. Circuit City, Linens and things, Macy's is closing 11 stores. This spending slump, which started in early 2008, has already claimed a number of retail casualties. Prominent national chains such as Linens 'n Things, Steve & Barry's, KB Toys, Whitehall Jewelers and Shoe Pavilion... I think they are predicting about 1 million total jobs lost through the retail sector. Not sure how many are already included in the unemployment figure but I bet it is quite a bit already.

Yes we should all do our part to find the silver lining.

I figure home burglaries should go down due to the extra risk involved of so many people being at home or staring out the window at their neighborhood.

reply to post by Ahabstar


LOL...thought the sarcasm was funny. Also with the huge amount of guns being bought, this may bring crimes down a bit as well...or it could make it worse.

Well a little bit of good news tonight everyone. We had 2 new tear off jobs come in to do starting next week. So that means finally things may start to get back to normal. Or at least it will get Bills caught up and then, we can keep some cash back for when times are slow again.

I am sure we will all make it, the problem is that we just have to try and hang in there and keep hoping for the best. We also should always look at the other things we can do. Things that we enjoy doing, and one never knows maybe one of them will be a money maker.

I have seen the worst, and I made it. I may never have been at the top of the ladder and been rich, but I enjoy my dishwasher and running water. Compared to having to carry water a mile to wash my dishes by hand. But then again I enjoyed the long walk daily. And the moose outside my kitchen window every morning. But I also enjoy my TV. And a real bathroom instead of heading for the out house at 2 am when its 40 below.

So yeah I have seen the worst, and it cant get any worse then that, But then again, you enjoy it so much when you have your family and nothing but them and your home.

reply to post by Ahabstar


Well retail stores are being hit more. About 20 miles away a bowling alley was robbed and the boldness of the robbery was incredible.

They kicked in the front doors, took power saws and plugged them in and cut an ATM in half. They cut open all the vending machines, registers, and safe. The last thing was they stole some of the surveillance equipment.


[edit on 24/1/2009 by toochaos4u]

reply to post by pmbhuntress


I, too, believe it will get worse. I've watched since the 1980's how jobs have sifted from producing goods to service sector and financial sector. At times gov't statistics wanted to call putting a hamburger together in a fast food place as "manufacturing". Financial services became "products".
When hard economic times hit, people have to decrease/stop spending for those services.

As with a magic trick or illusion (or robbery!), Americans were distracted from their falling wages with credit cards, pay day loan businesses, stretching payments so the shrinking middle class could afford increasingly costlier vehicles and houses, and finally being encouraged to use up all the equity in their homes for college and medical bills. The middle class got squeezed for every penny, and the rich got richer and didn't trickle down enough money.

This time it's not just "the economy, stupid", it's "jobs, stupid!" But, since this truly is a time of crisis, it's also an opportunity for change. Time for green collar jobs to bring humanity into the 21st century, leaving behind those who kick and scream.

I can only think of one way to solve this.

We as a society need to change our economy from being materialistic to....not being materlistic.

Since this idea goes completly against the human psyche, we should probably stop reproducing and sit tight.

Trust me, I've already learned great lessons from these times. Those materialistic things I craved for in the past seem like a joke to me know! Think about it, all that crap you wasted your money on and its probably sitting in the basement with all the rest of the crap you accumulated!
Also I will never have more than 1 credit card again, only to use for emergency purposes.

I am 53 and I began KNOWING 5 years ago that the real estate market would absolutely collapse and that we would be in a major depression by 2010. This is when everything was booming (especially here in Fl), but I just "KNEW" this as much as I know my own name, and when I would tell friends and family, they would just laugh at me and give me funny looks. Now they want to know how I knew all this would happen (I have not idea, but I am a bit psychic about certain things).

I started then by cutting all my debts, paying off my mortgage, buying physical gold, systematically pulling my money out of the market, planting a garden, doing my own repairs, being self sufficient etc. etc. My strong feeling about all this also basically came from a deep conviction that we had gotten out of touch with nature, community, and basic values, and had become like a proliferation of virus consuming its host.

Now one thing that personally gives me hope is that I sensed this strongly for some reason. There is a brighter day coming and these trials will serve as an evolutionary advancement, but we will only begin to inch our way out of this as we return to those things I mentioned above.. Though I can tell you one thing: It is going to get far worse, and I expect an implosion of the financial derivative instruments by mid year.

[edit on 24-1-2009 by whatsup]

I wonder do these figures include people who have never worked due to various factors like illness, disability's, attitude, young single parents or even just lazy people?

Peace

Shen Long

[edit on 25-1-2009 by Master Shen long]