USA UNEMPLOYMENT - A NEW STANDARD?

More bad news has come out of Washington on the issue of Americans being unemployed. The number of out-of-work Americans has again gone up and the number of new jobs is low and terrible.


As has become sadly common, the announced new weekly claims for unemployment benefits were again in the 410,000 - 420,000 range; newly filled jobs for the whole month of June numbered only 18,000; and the government defined and government calculated national unemployment rate is now at 9.2%. Almost all Americans know that this 9.2% figure is low and not realistic. Pouring a little salt in the job market wounds, Washington reports that the new job figures for April and May had been erroneously calculated and those figures were in fact 44,000 lower than had been reported.


So how bad is this 9.2% figure when compared to other nations? This listing may help give an answer. Reported unemployment: Spain - 21.3%
Greece - 16.2%
Ireland - 14.1%
Portugal - 12.4%
France - 9.1%
Italy - 8.2%
England - 7.7%
Germany -6.6%
Japan - 4.5%

A conclusion that comes to mind is that there is a new standard and a new accepted figure for unemployment in our nation. That figure is between 9.0% and 10.0%. Japan's unemployment rate is a wishful but unrealistic dream and rates of Portugal, Ireland, Greece and Spain are unacceptable. So this means that as long as our national leaders and our business/industrial leaders keep unemployment at an "official" rate of less than 10% then the American economy should remain viable but stagnant. The obvious concerns are how long will Americans tolerate a stagnant economy; how will we afford to care for the unemployed "needy"; and how can we curtail and lower the national debt.

The bottom line is that for the USA to address and remedy these problems it faces the economy must improve; huge numbers of new, private jobs need to be created and filled; and the debt must be lowered. A healthy, growing free economy is an answer but so is socialism and massive tax increases.

Choose your remedy.