A decade of no new jobs – charts and thoughts
by ilene - January 9th, 2010 1:28 pm
Jobs, settling, or sitting home
I was parking my car the other day and briefly chatted with a well-dressed and articulate older gentleman, the parking attendant. After not agreeing to my proposed having-to-wait-in-the cold discount – never hurts to ask – he asked me if I worked in the building and I said no, but I had before, over a year ago. Then he told me he was working there because even though he had two higher degrees, there was no work in our city.
He used to run a successful photography business, but beginning around a year ago, more and more of his clients were cancelling engagements, having found friends to take pictures for free. This they might regret someday, when reminiscing through their photo albums, but that was of no help to him now. Work at the parking garage was all he could find, nine dollars an hour; and by the way, his friend in construction hadn’t worked in months, besides the one-time deal on New Years. Many people he knows are "just sitting home" he told me. That’s how it is.
How does this vicious cycle end? With so many people out of work, demand for things and services (like photography for special events) cannot increase in any substantial way, but until demand increases, lots of people will be out of work. Unless the government gives them jobs, perhaps, counting things.
Here’s more on the topic, some thoughts and charts from John Mauldin, a depressing decade-by-decade chart from Prieur du Plessis and some thoughts by Zero Hedge’s Tyler Durden. – Ilene
2010 Forecast: A Year of Uncertainty
Courtesy of John Mauldin’s Thoughts from the Frontline
A challenged consumer confidence survey is not surprising, given the fact that roughly 8% of the working population is getting some form of unemployment assistance. One in eight children in this country is living on food stamps. By the way, the total number of people on unemployment is about 300,000 worse than most media accounts report. The Extended (and Emergency) unemployment claims for those out of work more than 26 weeks are not seasonally adjusted. To get the total number of people on unemployment insurance of all kinds, you have to add the non-seasonally adjusted number of continuing claims, which is currently about 300,000 higher than the seasonal adjustment. Here is a chart from Philippa,