Unemployment in the United States
The unemployment rate in the United States dropped down as low as 4.9 percent at the end of August. This was the smallest rate during the past few years, and current tendency promised further decrease in nearest future. Such changes of employment rate are caused by the 169,000 vacant job positions American employers have created during August, the Labor Department reported. However, due to consequences of Hurricane Katrina, this trend is expected to end, and unemployment rate to grow.
As Chicago Tribune staff reporter James Miller reports, in September the number of unemployed residents might grow to a million, while the unemployment rate would rise to 5 percent. Moreover, the unemployment rate in the hurricane-hit areas would most definitely grow to 25%. Katrina has affected not only employment /unemployment rates, but the entire national economy as well.
Further improvement in American labor force in September was imminent, but the impact of the hurricane has left thousands of people without jobs in direct impact regions. The economists claim country’s economy has suffered much from Katrina’s destruction, but they also optimistically claim that the United States economy will quickly recover.
Generally, the drops in employment rates are completely natural taking into account the level of destruction in the hit-regions. As the buildings, offices, factories, and laboratories have been crushed, most employees have lost their jobs. They might come back to the same positions, but it would probably take months to reconstruct the facilities.
Specific service exists under the United States government that are responsible for determining the rates of employment and unemployment. It is the responsibility of Bureau of Census to conduct a monthly survey of American households, called Current Population Survey, and report the data to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. However, the biases that the Bureau of Census usually faces are caused by those workers who work part-time, and also discouraged workers. They influence data collection in such a way that unemployment rate based on those data is actually lower than the true unemployment rate.
In addition, if American equilibrium GRP (i.e. such output level under which total goods produced equals total goods purchased) exceeded the potential GDP (or full-employment GDP), so-called inflationary GDP gap would be formed. The main reason of this phenomenon is the expansion of national economy’s business cycle. And so many economists believe it may occur when full employment significantly differs from short-run production in the country.
Unemployment has been a problem throughout the United States since the beginning of our economic structure. In the most obvious sense, unemployment means "being without a job." The term unemployment is one description of the economic condition of a society at any given time. Low unemployment means the majority of the labor force is involved in, or looking for steady work. On the other hand, high unemployment is an indication of an economy in recession, or even worse. This implies that a sizable percentage of the labor force is not currently working. Until they actually start working again, they will be counted in government data as "unemployed" (Shapiro, 1996).
The Bureau of the Census in the Department of Commerce collects and tabulates the unemployment statistics in the united states. Next, this information is given to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) which is held in the labor department. The BLS then calculates the unemployment rate and publishes the statistics. Every month, agents revisit a set amount of households all over the United States. Some economists criticize the government's method of calculating unemployment because it fails to include "discouraged workers" in its data (Shapiro, 1996). "Discouraged workers" include those who have looked for a job over a large period of time and have simply quit. For this reason, critics say, real unemployment may be extensively larger than one might think.
Throughout the 1900's there has been numerous polls taken that shocked everyone. The unemployment rate for those who cannot read and write is dramatically higher than for those who can (Simons, 1989). Illiteracy is a hidden problem throughout the United States (Simons, 1989). Another poll taken showed that an estimated 23 percent of Americans can read a stop sign but cannot fill out an employment form. Of those who can read and write, large numbers of adults cannot read and write past the fifth grade level (Zycher, 1995). How are people going to get a job if they are not even able to inform the company of their skills?
Another interesting fact, is The severest deficient demand in the United States occurred during the Great Depression in the 1930's.
Unemployment Re-Emerges as Most Important Problem in U.S.
Overtakes the economy in September
PRINCETON, NJ -- Thirty-nine percent of Americans in September name unemployment or jobs as the most important problem facing the country, up from 29% in August. Unemployment has now passed "the economy" as the most frequently mentioned issue. In the month since the passage of debt ceiling legislation, concerns about the federal budget deficit have eased, while the percentage citing dissatisfaction with government as the top problem has held steady at 14%.
The results are based on a Sept. 8-11 Gallup poll, conducted just after President Obama announced his proposed jobs bill to Congress to address the United States' high unemployment rate. Obama's proposal came shortly after the government reported that no net new jobs were created in the U.S. in August. The increased government attention to unemployment is likely the reason behind the bump in the percentage of Americans citing it as the most important problem.
More generally, economic concerns continue to dominate Americans' perceptions of the country's top problems. Seventy-six percent mention some economic issue as the most important problem, including three of the top four specific issues -- unemployment, the economy in general, and the budget deficit. Dissatisfaction with government ranks as the top non-economic issue, followed by healthcare. No other problem is mentioned by more than 4% of Americans this month.
Republicans Seen as Better Able to Handle Most Important Problem
The September poll also asked Americans to say which party they thought would do a better job of handling whichever problem they named as most important. More Americans chose the Republican Party (44%) than the Democratic Party (37%) as better able to handle that problem.
The current seven-point spread is one of the bigger Republican advantages on this question, which Gallup has asked periodically since 1956. It is the largest GOP advantage since January 1995, when Republicans had a 10-point edge. At that time, crime was the top overall problem according to Americans. The all-time-high Republican advantage was 19 points in January 1981, just after Ronald Reagan took office, when the economy was the most important problem.
Among those in the current poll who cite unemployment as the biggest problem facing the U.S., 42% say the Republican Party is better able to deal with it and 40% say the Democratic Party. Among those saying the economy in general is the top problem, the Republicans have a wider advantage, 57% to 31%.
Those differences to some degree reflect the fact that Americans who identify as Democrats are much more likely to name unemployment than the economy as the nation's top problem, while those who identify as Republicans are only slightly more likely to mention unemployment than the economy. Thus, the data speak to what each party's supporters are most concerned about, as well as Americans' perceptions of the party's relative abilities on the issue.
Implications
The nation is still struggling to recover from the 2008-2009 recession. Unemployment remains high, and Americans once again cite it as the top overall problem facing the United States. President Obama has laid out a plan to address the issue and submitted a bill to Congress, though at this point it is not clear if the measure will pass. Regardless of whether it passes, the jobs outlook over the next 13 months will be an important factor in determining whether voters elect to keep Obama in his current job beyond January 2013.
The results are based on a Sept. 8-11 Gallup poll, conducted just after President Obama announced his proposed jobs bill to Congress to address the United States' high unemployment rate. Obama's proposal came shortly after the government reported that no net new jobs were created in the U.S. in August. The increased government attention to unemployment is likely the reason behind the bump in the percentage of Americans citing it as the most important problem.
More generally, economic concerns continue to dominate Americans' perceptions of the country's top problems. Seventy-six percent mention some economic issue as the most important problem, including three of the top four specific issues -- unemployment, the economy in general, and the budget deficit. Dissatisfaction with government ranks as the top non-economic issue, followed by healthcare. No other problem is mentioned by more than 4% of Americans this month.
Republicans Seen as Better Able to Handle Most Important Problem
The September poll also asked Americans to say which party they thought would do a better job of handling whichever problem they named as most important. More Americans chose the Republican Party (44%) than the Democratic Party (37%) as better able to handle that problem.
The current seven-point spread is one of the bigger Republican advantages on this question, which Gallup has asked periodically since 1956. It is the largest GOP advantage since January 1995, when Republicans had a 10-point edge. At that time, crime was the top overall problem according to Americans. The all-time-high Republican advantage was 19 points in January 1981, just after Ronald Reagan took office, when the economy was the most important problem.
Among those in the current poll who cite unemployment as the biggest problem facing the U.S., 42% say the Republican Party is better able to deal with it and 40% say the Democratic Party. Among those saying the economy in general is the top problem, the Republicans have a wider advantage, 57% to 31%.
Those differences to some degree reflect the fact that Americans who identify as Democrats are much more likely to name unemployment than the economy as the nation's top problem, while those who identify as Republicans are only slightly more likely to mention unemployment than the economy. Thus, the data speak to what each party's supporters are most concerned about, as well as Americans' perceptions of the party's relative abilities on the issue.
Implications
The nation is still struggling to recover from the 2008-2009 recession. Unemployment remains high, and Americans once again cite it as the top overall problem facing the United States. President Obama has laid out a plan to address the issue and submitted a bill to Congress, though at this point it is not clear if the measure will pass. Regardless of whether it passes, the jobs outlook over the next 13 months will be an important factor in determining whether voters elect to keep Obama in his current job beyond January 2013.
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