You may have read that U.S. unemployment stayed at a discouragingly high rate of 9.5 percent in July. But sadly, that is not the worst of it.
Besides the 14.6 million Americans who were “officially” unemployed in July, 8.5 million have only part-time work but need full-time. On top of that, 2.6 million Americans have given up the job hunt in frustration, though they are not counted among those who are “officially” jobless.
So the unemployed and “underemployed” total nearly 26 million. And almost 7 million of those Americans have been without work for at least six months. They surely are in real pain.
The few workers whom businesses did hire in July could not offset the layoffs elsewhere in our nation’s economy.
The painful statistics on joblessness have continued despite President Barack Obama’s assurances that America is experiencing “recovery.” He also assured the nation that unemployment would remain below 8 percent if only Congress approved his $862 billion “stimulus” plan. But even as new “stimulus” projects are announced, the percentage of Americans without work remains high.
Many words might describe that situation; “recovery” does not.