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Jobless Rate Remains at 9.7 Percent, Long-Term Unemployment a Crisis

By Tula Connell

The jobless rate remained at 9.7 percent, with 36,000 jobs lost in February, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports today. The biggest hit came in construction, where employment fell by 64,000. Manufacturing remained steady but 18,000 jobs were lost in the information industry. Temporary help services added 48,000 jobs. The ongoing agony for long-term (those jobless for 27 weeks and over) jobless workers continues, with 6.1 million workers in February, roughly the same level since December. Some four in 10 unemployed persons have been unemployed for 27 weeks or more. When both unemployed and underemployed workers are counted, there still are 26.2 million people without full-time work?a 16.8 percent under-employment rate. In fact, the under-employment rate (which includes not just the officially unemployed, but also jobless workers who have given up looking for work and part-time workers who want full time jobs) worsened from 16.5 percent to 16.8 percent. The AFL-CIO is moving an aggressive plan to push for new jobs, calling on Congress and the Obama administration to take five immediate steps to address the jobs crisis.

Full post as published by AFL-CIO NOW BLOG on March 05, 2010 (boomark / email).