The raw numbers, not seasonally adjusted, [show] 6.4 million collecting state unemployment benefits, and an additional 1.4 million who were collecting the federal benefits that go to people who’ve been fruitlessly looking for a job for more than six months.

The claims numbers don’t show the whole story.

About 4 million more people are officially unemployed but not eligible for jobless benefits. In addition, 8.6 million can find only part-time work and another 2 million have given up looking for work. Nearly 15% of the workforce is unemployed, underemployed, or just plain discouraged.

Remember kids, the government is dissembling before you when you read in the newspaper the headline jobless percentages of ~8%. Those are just don’t-panic-the-populace numbers. I suspect very few politicians are sleeping well at night these days.

All this and developers are opening 70+ million new square feet of retail space. I even see a new building going up in one of the new (at least re-developed, not paved farm land) strip-malls, when their spot is less than 75% full currently. Lots of blank-faced empties.

Tags: depression 2.0

This entry was posted on Friday, March 27th, 2009 at 23:04.