barelypure
Spectator
- Joined
- Jun 12, 2002
- Messages
- 6,695
- Points
- 0
So I've just gotten home from a meeting with members of the Department of Labor from DC and Atlanta and some private Labor economists. While much of it was the normal boring things you might imagine there was some good stuff.
As I'm sure a lot of you know you can't rely on the unemployment figures published by the media. In NC they are reporting 10.7% unemployment. The actual figure is just over 18%. When you look at unemployment for blacks in NC it is just over 28%. That's not to say the printed numbers are a lie. They just don't tell the whole story. The media look at the 1st page but the Labor economists look towards the back of the report. The 10.7% are the ones who are drawing benefits. The 18% represents those who are looking for a job, like first timers, spouses trying to enter the job market to help the family finances, under-employed, etc.
Also, a more staggering number at least to me, was that nationally we would have to add 325,000 jobs a month for 5 years to reach the employment figures we had in 2007.
The good news is that currently if a person meets the qualifications and have the fortunate luck as to the calendar benefits now can last up to 79 weeks. Normal benefits run 26 weeks. Now if the Senate passes the next tier, the House has already approved it, it would extend benefits an additional 13 weeks in many States.
I just thought some of you might want to have this information and to account for others my whereabouts for the past several days.
As I'm sure a lot of you know you can't rely on the unemployment figures published by the media. In NC they are reporting 10.7% unemployment. The actual figure is just over 18%. When you look at unemployment for blacks in NC it is just over 28%. That's not to say the printed numbers are a lie. They just don't tell the whole story. The media look at the 1st page but the Labor economists look towards the back of the report. The 10.7% are the ones who are drawing benefits. The 18% represents those who are looking for a job, like first timers, spouses trying to enter the job market to help the family finances, under-employed, etc.
Also, a more staggering number at least to me, was that nationally we would have to add 325,000 jobs a month for 5 years to reach the employment figures we had in 2007.
The good news is that currently if a person meets the qualifications and have the fortunate luck as to the calendar benefits now can last up to 79 weeks. Normal benefits run 26 weeks. Now if the Senate passes the next tier, the House has already approved it, it would extend benefits an additional 13 weeks in many States.
I just thought some of you might want to have this information and to account for others my whereabouts for the past several days.