As noted below, we learned today that the unemployment rate for November dropped from 10.2% to 10.0%. That sounds like good news. But, Tula Connell at the AFL-CIO's blog looked inside those numbers -- and it's still not looking good for America's working men and women. There are millions still unemployed, including a lot who aren't even counted in today's numbers because they've "dropped out" of the labor market -- and there are millions underemployed:
The nation’s unemployment rate moved from 10.2 percent to 10 percent in November, with 15.4 million American workers unemployed, according to U.S. Department of Labor data released this morning. But when both unemployed and underemployed workers are counted, there still are some 26 million people without jobs or full-time work. At the start of the recession in December 2007, there were 7.5 million jobless workers and the unemployment rate was 4.9 percentThis is why the focus of the Obama administration and Democrats on the Hill is jobs, jobs, jobs. The economic debacle left from the Bush years is going to slam the Democrats in 2010 if the situation doesn't improve in a real way before the congressional elections next November.
Economic Policy Institute (EPI) Director Larry Mishel says he would not interpret this decline as the beginning of a ongoing reversal in the unemployment rate. In fact, the jobs situation likely will worsen for up to the next 12 months, he says. One reason: There is a backlog of people who dropped out of labor force who will come back in—up to 3 million jobless workers. And when they start looking for jobs again unemployment will rise.
