15 Million People Out of Work

Depending on whom you believe, about 15 million people are unemployed in the United States.  That's a lot of folks.

Although the January unemployment figure fell to 9%, nationally, down 0.4% from the previous month and the lowest rate since April 2009, it marks the 21st consecutive month the rate has been 9% or higher.

At the same time many job vacancies are going unfilled.  According to Bertha Coombs, a CNBC contributor, in an article published today, "While there are more than 25 job seekers for every open position in fields like construction, the exact inverse is true in technology, health and science-related jobs."  Can this be so?  Probably.


The truth is that many technical or highly-skilled jobs are staying open longer because it's a buyers market.  Employers can wait for the perfect candidate, partially because they've learned to operate their businesses leaner and, well yes, meaner.  Simultaneously, extended unemployment benefits, while hardly a replacement in dollars or self-esteem for real paychecks, make it somewhat easier for job seekers to hold out for better, higher-paying jobs.

I don't mean to understate the severity of the economic and jobs collapse we suffered.  It was bad and could have been far worse.  It's still bad, even though it's better than it was.  However, many economists, including those at the Federal Reserve, are saying that full or normal employment might leave as much as 6.7% of the workforce out of work at any given time.  That contrasts with the traditional number of 5% that they used for generations.  The difference may not sound like much but in today's labor force it's almost 3 million workers.

The bottom line is unemployment remains the single biggest problem our economy faces.  When you watch the news or pay at the pump or listen to another politician claiming his party has the answer and those other guys don't, don't lose sight of the fact that the answer to the current problem is JOBS.