02.10.11
Increasing number of those for which alles kaput
Abstract from the paper “The Stagnating Labor Market,” by Jayadev and Konczal:
Key findings: the number of people out of the labor force who are no longer trying to find a job is steadily increasing, as the normal mechanisms for reentry have collapsed. It’s now more likely for the unemployed to drop out than to find a job — the first time this has happened as far back as data can be found. Jayadev and Konczal find that underemployment has risen due to a lack of aggregate demand, not a mismatch between workers’ skills and available jobs.
The graph, taken from here and reposted all over the blogosphere, illustrates unemployment decreasing, in part, because the many of the unemployed are leaving the labor market — illustrated by the rising red line. It would seem a symptom of entrenched failure in the US economy, with no obvious sign of “winning the future.” It also looks like it could actually be the primary driver of “decreasing” unemployment statistics.
(Go to the original post for a larger version.)
Writes Mike Konczal:
The percentage of unemployed who will drop out of the labor force is increasing, gaining over those who will find a job. This is unique in the post-World War II economy — and only getting worse.
Related: New category added — Permanent Fail — superseding Stumble and Fail, now inadequate to the task.