Horrific! 86 million 'Invisibly unemployed' in U.S. have given up on finding work altogether

By Catholic Online (NEWS CONSORTIUM)
5/4/2012
Catholic Online (www.catholic.org)

As only those looking for work are tallied, 86 million who have given up aren't counted

The downside to the drop in unemployment, analysts say, is that many people in the U.S. have stopped looking for work altogether. In order to factor into statistics, a person is only considered employed if they have a job or have looked for one in the last four weeks. Only about 64 percent of Americans over the age of 16 currently fall into that category, according to the Labor Department, the lowest labor force participation since 1984.

Accounting for the 'invisibly unemployed' is the fact that many of the teens and 20-somethings may be enrolled in either high school or college full-time. And many of the over 65 crowd are usually retired.

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LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - There are far more jobless people in the United States than previously thought. It's estimated that there are millions of nonworking adults who aren't even looking for a job anymore with hiring unable to keep up with population growth.

The U.S. labor force is now at its smallest size since the 1980s when compared to the broader working age population.

"We've been getting some job growth and it's been significant, but it hasn't yet been strong enough that you start to get people re-engaging in the labor market," Keith Hall, a senior research fellow at the Mercatus Center and former commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics says.

Of those who have given up looking for work, older people, ages 65 and over, account for more than a third. Young people between 16 and 24 make up another fifth. More than half don't have a college degree and more than two thirds are white.

Accounting for this is the fact that many of the teens and 20-somethings may be enrolled in either high school or college full-time. And many of the over 65 crowd are usually retired.

As for the other 36 million folks who fall in between, the Labor Department simply doesn't know. Many may be staying home with children or other relatives. Some may have gone back to school or retraining programs, while others could be disabled and unable to work, and some may have retired early.

"Even in the best of times, there are millions of people who don't want to work for a variety for reasons," Hall says. He suspects that for the majority of "disengaged" Americans is higher than usual as a direct result of the recession.

About six million people claim they want a job, even though they haven't looked for one in the last four weeks. If they were to all start applying for work again, the unemployment rate would suddenly shoot up above 11 percent.

"At this point, the labor market is worse than people realize because people are discouraged. Certainly, a large number of workers have given up on the job market," Hall said.

The decline in labor force participation is not a new problem. After peaking at 67.3 percent in early 2000, the rate has been falling ever since. Researchers attribute a large part of the decline to the recent recession and lackluster recovery, but the other half to long-term demographic trends.

� 2012, Distributed by NEWS CONSORTIUM.

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Keywords: Unemployed, demographics, job searches, old people, teens

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1 - 4 of 4 Comments

Rob
1 year ago
Unfortunately this is the perfect storm coming together. When you look at GDP since the 90s the item that becomes the most obvious is the growth of financial services and the decline of manufacturing. I watched in interview with the former CEO of Citibank and he stated that in the 90s a cultural shift began to occur where concepts like "shareholder value" became the main driver for business. As we deregulated wall street and shifting all the rewards to them, it's created terrible results for our country. So many jobs lost to other countries, the pervasive spread of cheap, overseas goods in our country, and bubble after bubble. I think when we begin to see business as one of the elements that contributes to the common good of our society, maybe we can restore our economic greatness. When people are valued as much as profits maybe we will get there. When there is some modicum of concern for our country versus just making a buck, maybe we'll get there. But until then, we will just have to sit back and wait for wall street to cook something up so the paper money can start flowing again and we can put all these people back to work for a time. They have crippled banking and real estate. I wonder what's next?
James
1 year ago
This is more than "horrific". This means that we're down to a three to one ratio paying into the Social Security system. If this continues the System will collapse and many elderly will be without income.
vance
1 year ago
Thank you, thank you Catholic Online for shining the light of truth. This is a fact that has already been known for a month. NONE, absolutely no TV media coverage of this. I learned it from the Drudge Report. Now Fox News has finally come forward this morning with new unemployment numbers and are now telling the truth that the 8.1% unemployment figures mean nothing because it doesn't count those people who are "out of the job market". These 86 MILLION people are NOT included in the Labor Departments stats. To get Obama elected, we will see 7% unemployment figures by October. 51% of college grads cannot find work.
Theresa
1 year ago
Yes there are many Invisibly unemployed out there and I am one of them. I know of someone who has been unemployed and they are in their early sixties and have been unemployed for five years. At first this person looked for work but wasn't hired in anywhere. It has to do with age. No one wants to train someone that is close to retirement. So this person then decided to retire.
I have put in numerous applications and it's disheartening when I don't even get even an interview. When this happens it's discouraging and becomes very draining. I can sympathize for those people that have given up.
I don't agree that if you look for a job in the past couple of weeks you would find them because I have been looking for a few months now and even those jobs that seem that I thought that I would certainly be called just for the sake they need people. I was never called. I have put in numerous applications/ resumes. One major reason is so many are looking for work and they are being overloaded with applications. Even those jobs that are minimum wage in the past they used to be willing to train those who had no experience want someone with experience. There is not enough work for the unemployed and people realize that as to why they are giving up. Many other factors play in as to where they are located and their previous experience ect. There was one job that was shown on the news of 4,000 people lined up for a job that only needed 100 people.

It's seems quite strange that in order to fall into statistics that you are employed is that you have a job Or have been looking for one in the past four weeks. I would think that employed is having a job period. How can looking for work include a person as being employed when there is no income coming in they are NOT working? For many people they are not earning a living or paying taxes. Those statistics would show false information when the true number of unemployed is not actually showing up. Your either working or you not.
This is just one of the many things that I believe is flawed is our system.
I pray for all those who are unemployed through the intercession of St. Joseph the Worker who's Feast was celebrated Tuesday. Also I pray for God’ wisdom to come upon our nation and world to enlighten us to His plan and will in the unemployment situation and obedience to His will.

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