GOP Claims Dems Ignore Unemployment
After blocking the unemployment extension bill for 7 weeks with amendments dealing with ACORN and other non-unemployment related items and by voting against allowing the bill’s rapid passage by not allowing debate, the GOP published some unemployment statistics in their article “While Democrats Ignore Unemployment, Americas Pay the Price” posted on the GOP.gov website by an unknown author. One statistic they failed to mention was that during their 7 week blockage of the extension bill, 343,000 Americans fell off unemployment benefits into economic chaos.
Breakdown: Unemployment Statistics Mentioned in GOP Article
(GOP Stats in green)
8.2 million Americans have become unemployed since the beginning of the Great Recession (Dec. 2007). Of the 15.7 million currently unemployed, 7.5 million were unemployed prior to the start of the Great Recession. Isn’t that interesting?
While 15,700,000 may indeed be the highest raw number of unemployed Americans to date, as a percentage of the work force (which is how unemployment is measured, isn’t it?) we aren’t even close to the highest unemployment rate in American history.
Our current unemployment rate is only about 1/3 of the historic highs. The unemployment rate is currently 10.2% of our work force. During the Great Depression, the unemployment rate was 30% and higher.
*Since the trillion dollar Democrat "stimulus" was passed, the number of unemployed Americans has increased by more than 3.2 million.
5 million lost their jobs between the start of the Great Recession (Dec 2007) and the passage of the "stimulus" (Feb. 2009).
"Since the start of the recession in December 2007, the number of unemployed persons has risen by 8.2 million, and the unemployment rate has grown by 5.3 percentage points (“THE EMPLOYMENT SITUATION – OCTOBER 2009”. Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor).”
The “stimulus” was not a trillion dollars. It was $878 Billion, and yes, it makes a difference. One number is fact-based ($878 billion) and the other is fantasy (1 trillion). Americans need fact-based political discourse, not fantasy-based agitation.
*190,000: Individuals whose jobs were eliminated in October.
We see even better news when the average number of lost jobs per month between November 2008 and April, 2009 is considered. That average was 645,000 lost jobs per month (BLS). This reflects a strong post-stimulus reduction in the number of lost jobs. This point-in-time reference is used for consistency. It is not know what the impact of the stimulus has been on this measure to date. With only 25% of the stimulus funds having been spent, the actual impact is probably very small. Since the Great Recession started, nonfarm payroll employment has fallen by 7.3 million jobs (BLS).
*1,737,000: People unemployed in October because they have been laid off.
Wouldn’t it be more clear to state this is the total number of laid off workers since the start of the Great Depression rather than making it appear as if it is related solely to the month of October 2009?
*2,804,000: Jobs lost since Democrats' "stimulus" was passed in February.
Given that 8.2 million jobs have been lost since the start of the Great Recession (BLS) in December of 2007, this would mean that 5.396 million jobs were lost before the “Democrats’ “stimulus” was passed in Feb.” 2009. This means an average of 385,429 jobs were lost per month for 14 months prior to the Republican’s point-in-time reference and an average of 311,555 jobs were lost per month for the 9 months since the “Democrats’ “stimulus” was passed in February”.
Cleaning it up a bit, these numbers indicate that job losses have slowed down by 73,874 fewer lost jobs per month since the stimulus was passed by the Democrats. Loosing fewer jobs per month is a good thing, right?. This may be another indicator that we are moving out of the Great Recession.
*9,284,000: People who are working only part-time because they cannot find full time employment.
“The number of persons working part time for economic reasons (sometimes referred to as involuntary part-time workers) was little changed in October at 9.3 million. (BLS)” This number was 9 million in May of 2009 as well.
* 2,373,000: People who want work, but who are not currently looking because of the state of the economy.
The number above isn’t found in BLS report at all. The closest statement that could reflect the number is: “Among the marginally attached, there were 808,000 discouraged workers in October, up from 484,000 a year earlier. (The data are not seasonally adjusted.) Discouraged workers are persons not currently looking for work because they believe no jobs are available for them. The other 1.6 million persons marginally attached to the labor force in October had not searched for work in the 4 weeks preceding the survey for reasons such as school attendance or family responsibilities. (THE EMPLOYMENT SITUATION – OCTOBER 2009. page 2)”
IF this is where the number is coming from, it is presented in a very dishonest way.
* 5,594,000: People unemployed and searching for work for more than 27 weeks - the highest level ever.
“The number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks and over) was little changed over the month at 5.6 million. (BLS)” It is also important to note that these statistics weren’t kept during the great depression. Had they been, our current numbers would not be any where near the historic highs of the Great Depression.
*1,090,000: Job seekers that are new entrants to the workforce and have yet to find a job.
This is a fair representation of the statistic.
*26.9: Average number of weeks job seekers are unemployed after losing their jobs - the highest number since the statistic was first recorded in 1948.
This is a fair representation of the statistic. It is also fair to mention that given the reality that this is the greatest economic downturn since 1948, it would expected that this number would be the highest on record.
*27.6%: Unemployment rate among job seekers between the ages of 16 and 19-the highest level since the statistic was first measured in 1948.
This is a fair representation of the statistic. It is also fair to mention that given the reality that this is the greatest economic downturn since 1948, it would expected that this number would be the highest on record.
*15.7%: Unemployment rate among African Americans-the highest level since 1985.
Highest unemployment rate among African Americans since Ronald Reagan was President. This is fair (those were some rough years, indeed).
*13.1%: Unemployment rate among Hispanics and Latinos.
*17.5%: Rate of under-employment (unemployed + working & not earning enough to live on).
*15.5%: Unemployment rate among job seekers without a high school degree.
*65.1%: Rate of the U.S. population in the workforce.
This is a fair representation of these last four statistics.
The question for you to consider and possibly comment on is whether or not the GOP presented these statistics in a fact-based way or whether they are presented with half-truths, misinformation and/or extreme bias?
Thanks in advance for your comments!
References:
Unknown, 2009. “While Democrats Ignore Unemployment, Americas Pay the Price”. Retrieved from http://www.gop.gov/policy-news/09/11/06/while-democrats-ignore-unemployment on Nov. 6, 2009
Gomstyn, Alice 2008. “Bailout Bill Basics: From TARP to Tax Breaks”. ABC NEWS Business Unit. Retrieved from http://abcnews.go.com/print?id=5932586 on Nov. 6, 2009
Unknown, 2009. “THE EMPLOYMENT SITUATION – OCTOBER 2009”. Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor. Retrieved from http://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/empsit.pdf on Nov. 6, 2009
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