11 Reasons Why the Unemployment Crisis Is Even Worse Than You Think

[marmar]

AlterNet / By Michael Thornton

11 Reasons Why the Unemployment Crisis Is Even Worse Than You Think
Here are 11 unemployment facts that mass media underreport or ignore completely.

September 14, 2011 |


President Obama recently addressed the nation during a joint session of Congress and the main theme of that address was the need to create jobs, lots of jobs, millions of jobs. The Great Recession has cost US workers millions of jobs and those jobs have not come back as quickly as they disappeared and in many cases those jobs will never return. According to the Economic Policy Institute, “In total, there are 6.9 million fewer jobs today than there were in December 2007.”

That is only a small part of the jobs-hole story, a story that is often ignored, overlooked and oversimplified by mass media.

The media has failed to present the unemployment problem, with all its associated economically devastating consequences, in the manner it deserves. It’s possible that unemployment facts and figures don’t translate well for advertisers, or they are too cumbersome to present in a two-minute segment. Whatever the reason, the mass media seem to avoid unemployment details as they would avoid describing and filming fresh road kill during a dinnertime newscast. While some excellent blogs clearly explain unemployment data, such as Mish’s Economic Trend Analysis, Calculated Risk and Economic Populist, mass media sites are absent.

The unemployment rate remained at 9.1 percent for August. Unemployment to the mass media generally centers on that single point within the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) monthly employment report. There is passing mention of discouraged workers and the underemployed, but the true scale of the jobs crisis is given scant attention considering the magnitude of the problem. ..............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.alternet.org/economy/152401/11_reasons_why_the_unemployment_crisis_is_even_worse_than_you_think

[NashVegas]

1. 12, Actually

No one with a national bullhorn dares address how technology has made 100s of millions of jobs go away.

[RaleighNCDUer]

3. And that's the kicker - a great many of these jobs are NOT coming back.

They simply don't exist anymore, whether due to outsourcing of the work, or technical advances that allow 1 person to do what was done by 5.

We need to develop an entirely new jobs paradigm, and restructure our trade agreements to make manufacturing here as profitable as overseas (or make manufacturing overseas cost as much as manufacturing here).

[NashVegas]

6. Outsourcing + Crowdsourcing

In the cases of certain jobs - journalism, some academics, photography and other graphic arts - we now have bloggers and data-mining sites who disseminate "content" that's often copied off of professional outlets and re-distributed free of charge, thus siphoning off the income stream from those who do the actual *work.*

In the case of graphic artists, we have tons of people out there who *expect* those artists to submit work, free of charge, and after days of tweaking per client demand, accept maybe $50 for a logo. If they won't, someone's cousin with Photoshop will.

Then you have those low-paying "starter" jobs, that someone's neighbor's teen would do for a one-off, now being handled by volunteers who are looking to be part of a groovy, hip, local event.

Outsourcing? Now, even accountants, lawyers, and people in the medical field can start feeling the pain.

The tragedy about *those* jobs going away is that most of the people in them, or their parents, stood by and did nothing while manufacturing went South.

In 10 years, about the only jobs left for people outside of the investment & leisure class will be air conditioner repair & plumbing.

[xchrom]

2. recommend

[Jakes Progress]

4. The reason that really makes it bad.

The people in power - republicans, Democrats, corporations, the uber-rich - don't give a damn.

[youforeal]

5. not one bit.