U.S. joblessness becoming more permanent: BMO

[marmar]

from CBC News:



U.S. joblessness becoming more permanent: BMO
Last Updated: Friday, September 18, 2009 | 3:32 PM ET

CBC News
 
More than a third of unemployed Americans have been jobless for more than six months, says a BMO report.

"Long duration structural unemployment … now represents a record 3.2 per cent of the labour force and a record 33.7 per cent of the unemployed," BMO chief economist Sherry Cooper wrote in a research note issued Friday.

It's a situation Canada faced during painful recessions in the early 1980s and 1990s. In those cases, the only remedy was sharp government spending cutbacks to rein in budget deficits — something Washington has shown no willingness to do thus far, says Cooper.

According to the U.S. Treasury Department, Washington had a budget deficit of $1.3 trillion at the end of August.

The outlook is better in Canada, where 1.5 per cent of the workforce and only 17 per cent of those unemployed are considered "structurally unemployed" Cooper notes.

Low turnover

The U.S. economy needs eight million new jobs simply to return to employment levels seen in 2006 and 2007, Cooper notes. ............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.cbc.ca/money/story/2009/09/18/structural-unemployment-bmo-cooper.html

[Captain Hilts]

1. Translation: BMO is the Bank of Montreal. nt

[marmar]

2. I actually maintain a bank account in Canada.....at Scotiabank, not BMO.

nt

[Captain Hilts]

5. It was weird. I lived in Toronto - still go there a lot - and I have a BMO account...

here in Bethesda/Chevy Chase there is a TDWaterhouse financial outfit across the street!

[JVS]

3. The following is not a way to remedy unemployment, in fact it generally worsens it

"It's a situation Canada faced during painful recessions in the early 1980s and 1990s. In those cases, the only remedy was sharp government spending cutbacks to rein in budget deficits — something Washington has shown no willingness to do thus far, says Cooper."

[doodadem]

4. My husband is starting a new job next month

My husband is starting a new job next month, after being unemployed for nearly a year and a half. He was a network engineer before being laid off. He's going to work with a friend of ours for a small co. that installs piping and pumps for potable water for municipalities. He says he's going to be a glorified plumber--hilarious, because that has been an ongoing refrain in the 25 years we've been married--"I am NOT a plumber", when confronted with household plumbing problems.

There's no benefits--no insurance--and he'll be traveling for 10 days at a time, home 4 days, then gone again. That sucks. That means all of the farmwork falls to me, along with running my regular business.

But what else can you do? We're down to not being able to pay the mortgage.

Today is his birthday.......he's 58 yrs. old.