September 2011 Unemployment 16.5%

While September 2011 official unemployment remained unchanged at 9.1%, total unemployment, including discouraged workers, rose 3 tenths to 16.5%.  If one used the older 1994 method for calculating total unemployed, including discouraged, the number would be closer to approximately 23.2%.

Jobs edged up 103,000, but 45,000 of those were returning Verizon workers who had been on strike.  The private sector gained a net 137,000 while government continued declining by 34,000 according to the September Jobs Report.  This continues to be historically weak.  Wages earnings continued to be weak and average weekly work hours were up slightly.  Involuntary part-time workers increased to 9.27 million from 8.826 million and those unemployed more than 26 weeks increased 6.242 million from 6.034 million despite thousands falling of into statistical nothingness as extended unemployment benefits expire.

While the employment-population ratio increased to 58.3% and the Labor Force Participation Rate increased to 64.2%, both are increasing partially as the result of less people in the work force looking for work as we discussed two months ago.  This chart shows just how dramatically bad it is.


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