How bad is the national unemployment rate?
I’ll admit that it’s getting harder to ignore the fact that we are facing a global economic crisis and more people want to know about unemployment during the great depression as a result. In addition, after reviewing the recent articles in the news, I’m starting to wonder myself if we are in a recession or if this is just the tip of the iceberg of a second great depression the likes of which the world has never seen.
I honestly believe that humanity has the ability to come together and solve the abundant problems our global society faces. Things like production, global warming, and sustainability are topics that get a bit of dinner conversation and banter at most but have not become prevalent issues in our generation. People are still more likely to discuss weather or politics.
After seeing how many of my friends and close associates have lost their jobs as of late, I want to help them as much as possible but find it difficult knowing what to tell them because I haven’t had a job like theirs for a very long time… I recognize that not everyone has the desire or the skills to make a living online and one of the hardest skills to acquire is the ability to set goals, deadlines and basically act as your own manager when it comes to getting tasks completed.
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When you work for yourself, you will never be unemployed… However if you’re not careful you will wind up out on the streets without a job or a dollar to your name.
Our global economic crisis is resulting in record unemployment and every day we hear news about more corporate layoffs, company bankruptcies and people losing their homes.
Needless to say, this news is tragic and there is no hope in sight of when this recession/depression will turn around and things will begin to stabilize. The Bureau of Labor and Statistics at the time of writing this article has recorded a 6.7 percent national unemployment rate for the United States.
What was the peak unemployment rate during the Great Depression?
The Bureau of Labor and Statistics has records of peak unemployment during the Great Depression to be around 25 percent. On paper there’s a lot more room to slide if our economy is heading towards “Great Depression” levels however the way they recorded their statistics back then varies quite a bit from today’s methods. In reality our current rate is a lot higher because it doesn’t take into account record underemployment levels which are basically people that have jobs but cannot find full-time work.
To make things worse, analysts predict that we will continue to lose jobs and see the rates climb until at least the middle of 2010. What this means is that people are going to need how to consume less and find ways to cut back on expenses where they can. Everyone feels a pinch but not everybody feels it as hard, personally I have been trying to do little things to cut back like making coffee and meals at home instead of going out. In addition, I have held off certain trips that I would have made otherwise and have been resorting to holding more of my meetings online using webcam software.
In my opinion, what will inevitably result from this crisis is an increased efficiency and appreciation for what we have. In addition, it may be a good time to start a business or focus on intellectual property creation if you have increased time… For some people losing their jobs could be a blessing in disguise because they may find one that they like more or have the time they need to build something they can profit from for the rest of their life.
The bottom line is that unemployment during the great depression was much worse than it is now but we should all cross our fingers that things will get better or we may have to cope with some of the realities that some of our older relatives had to face when they were our age.
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I enjoyed your comments on comparing now to the great depression. I would be iterested in knowing who made some money in the great depression. Was it a small store owner? A mechanic? a entertainer? We know it wasen’t a farmer. If [ when] inflation takes off and money is worthless, what kind of property should we have? Lionel
“For some people losing their jobs could be a blessing in disguise because they may find one that they like more or have the time they need to build something they can profit from for the rest of their life.”
This sums up my feelings about this situation quite nicely.
The US is no longer a working society. Unemployment at 8.1% and 651000
lost in March 2009. So there is no magic that means 8,037,037 employed
minus 651,000. Or roughly 7.4 million employed people. With 300-305
million in the US population yeilds approximately 2.6 people employed
for every 100 people in the US. Yes, it is a depression. With the expectation
that the US will lose jobs for at least the rest of 2009. That 2.6% will get smaller.
Very interesting article. Also, things are very different today as compared to the time of the Great Depression so IMO it’s hard to compare today’s recession to the 1930s. We have a MUCH higher standard of living and how the Government measures unemployment and inflation has changed radically since the 1930s. In truth, I’m not 100% sure exactly how bad off we are compared to back then.
Anyone that believe he US is not in a depression is seriously mistaken. If you go to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, unemployment, U6. You will see unemployment is really @ 16.4%. Real long term unemployed people do not even fall in these stats since they have no money, are homeless and cannot be polled by the BLS. Estimated @ 3 million people. So conservatively add 1 % and unemployment is about 17.4%. No one really knows what the true unemployment picture is. That is one of the reasons this economic crisis crept up on the US economy so quickly and was undetected. The statistics have not been accurate enough to be an indicator. They have no real validity. Example, before the problem people
say,” technically we are not in a recession”. If you look at the number of bankruptcies in US in terms of businesses, banks and personal. You’ll see the problem is beyond the control of the government. Everything needs to be propped up. In the mean time everyone is taking right downs. OR DEFLATION. Write downs are deflation in progress. It has not been stopped. Just slowed. It could go on for ten or fifteen years. Even if there are small insignificant improvements. The overall trend is down. It is not a confidence problem.
It is now a race. Can the government out spend the pending catastrophe?
Or will China call in their loan first?
Even if the US could fix the depression in it’s own boarders. The depressed
economy overseas would just drag us back down. US are coupled to too many other economies.
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