Report Shows True Severity of Current Slump

News and Opinion for Democrats Against Bush -- Part II

Report Shows True Severity of Current Slump

"Because of the extended period of job loss, the current labor slump is the most severe on record by several important measures ... "

--TomPaine.com

For more information on jobs and the economy, and to read the full briefing paper, "Understanding The Severity Of The Current Labor Slump" by Lee Price with Yulia Fungard, please click here.

TomPaine.com

The Real Jobs Numbers

Published: Nov 07 2003

To read the complete article, click here-- http://www.tompaine.com/feature2.cfm/ID/9351

Excerpts and headings--

Many in the media have underestimated the severity of the current labor slump by focusing on the unemployment rate and the gains in real hourly wages. If you look at the numbers, the current slump is setting records in terms of sustained job loss, and the decline in wage and salary income, among other areas. Why should you be skeptical of those who report a rosy future in the job market? Read on.

A number of factors must be considered in order to understand the severity of the current labor slump:

The record length of time that jobs have failed to recover...
The growth in the working age population since the recession began in March 2001...
The effect of the "missing" labor market on the unemployment rate...
The loss of wage and salary income..

The U.S. labor market has remained mired in a slump since the recession began in March 2001. This Briefing Paper compares the severity of the current labor slump with that of earlier slumps in terms of both depth and duration, and in terms of both absolute decline and the decline relative to a target based on keeping pace with population growth. Because of the extended period of job loss, the current labor slump is the most severe on record by several important measures ...

For more information on jobs and the economy, and to read the full briefing paper, "Understanding The Severity Of The Current Labor Slump" by Lee Price with Yulia Fungard, please click here.

http://www.tompaine.com/feature2.cfm/ID/9351

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U.S. data underestimates new jobless claims-Labor
Reuters, 11.18.03, 4:36 PM ET

By Andrea Hopkins

The complete article is currently (3/29/04) available on the Forbes website at-- http://www.forbes.com/markets/newswire/2003/11/18/rtr1152450.html [found through a Google search by article title on the above date]

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Labor Department, at the urging of Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, is working to fix a statistical quirk that causes the government to routinely underestimate the number of newly unemployed Americans each week, a department official said Tuesday.

Each Thursday, Labor issues its count of Americans filing initial claims for state unemployment benefits in the latest week. In 51 of the past 52 weeks, it has also revised the previous week's number upward, making the picture less rosy than it originally appeared. ...

Copyright 2003, Reuters News Service

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