It is a sad fact that 14.8 million Americans are reported to be unemployed and that nearly 12 million others reportedly are “underemployed” – having less than full-time jobs – or have given up seeking work.
That is a huge number of Americans in serious economic difficulty.
There are programs to help, but they can’t solve the problem. It’s a terrible thing for anyone to want and need a job and not have one. Real hardship and serious family problems extend to children and others.
The jobless problem is persistent. And that means many kinds of other personal and social problems. We recall about 25 percent unemployment existed during the Great Depression of the 1930s, a situation we hope will never occur again.
Having so many Americans unemployed and others underemployed is a serious concern.