United States Unemployment Rate Soars to Highest Percentage in 2
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17.5 million Americans are experiencing the effects of our nation’s economic downturn as evidenced by the updated unemployment rate statistics that were released earlier this morning by the U.S. Department of Labor. The New York Times is reporting that the unemployment rate rose from 9.8 percent in September to 10.2 percent in October.
October’s unemployment rate is the highest percentage in the United States in 26 years and expert economists do not expect the rate to decrease by a significant margin until the spring of 2010 at the earliest, according to The New York Times. Congress took a pro-active measure prior to the announcement of the U.S. Department of Labor’s updated unemployment rate by extending benefits for jobless workers for an extra 20 weeks.
While the unemployment rate is certainly staggering, the underemployment rate that was released by the U.S. Department of Labor earlier this morning is equally as alarming. The underemployment rate, which includes part-time employees, individuals who have given up their job search and those who are unemployed, has reached its highest percentage since 1994 at 17.5 percent.
Economic expert Allen L. Sinai provided a comment in response to the release of the updated unemployment rate, saying, “There’s no doubt that the slashing and burning of jobs has abated quite a lot. The economy is recovering, but it is a very soft recovery. You can’t force businesses to use their profits to hire.”
