Nearly 20 percent of U.S. workers underemployed

Source: Reuters

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Nearly 20 percent of the U.S. workforce lacked adequate employment in January and struggled to make ends meet with reduced resources and bleak job prospects, according to a Gallup poll released on Tuesday.

In findings that appear to paint a darker employment picture than official U.S. data, Gallup estimated that about 30 million Americans are underemployed, meaning either jobless or able to find only part-time work.

Underemployed people spent 36 percent less on household purchases than their fully employed neighbors in January, while six out of 10 were not hopeful about their chances of finding adequate work in the coming month, the poll said.

Gallup surveyed more than 20,000 U.S. adults from January 2 to 31. The results have a 1 percentage point margin of error.

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE61M1OL20100223

Love my Job (for Real!).

I can't imagine what it'd be like if I, like many many people, were employed doing something I either did not care about or outright disliked.

Haven't had benes since 1993.

At least I like my job. :-)

of mine is in his late 50s and heworked all his life and got laid off over a year ago. He can't find anything other than part-time work at far, far less than what he was making before. And of course, no insurance benefits come with those part-time jobs. It's really bad out there.

Just give them enough work so they are struggling to pay bills every month. God forbid they may have extra cash and less stress in their lives -- becauser then they would see the total rape of this country going on.

Welcome to the perpetual Country Store, middle class America!

"St. Peter don't you call me 'cause I can't go...I owe my soul to the Company Store."

However, be aware that I used that phrase with a 20's something the other day, and she had no idea what I meant. Another indication of how inadequate our teaching of working class/labor history.

And I'm having to remind myself to teach my own kid about labor history. His courses only seem to be warmed over varieties of the patriotic swill favored by the history channel.

It's consistent with it.

Gallup says it's a tad under 20%, the BLS says it's 18%... the MOE plus slightly different definitions easily account for the difference.

I've noticed that - interesting that is of no interest to anyone and Gallup does no polls on that. Yet the recover is starting to show there, if they are hiring part time rather than full, it's still a good sign.

Still, the recovery will continue and help with this. People going out of their way to paint a "darker picture" are not helping. Optimism is necessary to the recovery and the M$M keeps trying to squelch that.

that the self employed are hurting as much as others. I'm not sure about the recovery, unless it's a jobless recovery.

My husband is making less than he did in 2001 and we're having to pay for our entire health care plan, life insurance, etc. But hey, it's better than a lot of other people are doing right now. What sucks is not knowing if he'll have a job every three months.

Seems the gubermint has been playing around with the numbers.

The Gallup's numbers are 19.9% or 3.4%+ different from the U-6.

http://data.bls.gov/cgi-bin/surveymost?ln

The work force population is about 153 million. That would be a 5.2 million people difference. Not that you should blame the Obama administration for playing around with the statistics, all the administrations since Raygun (some say since Nixon) have been doing it.

At the peak of the 1st Republicon Great Depression in 1933, unemployment was about 24.9% but some people say that was because of differences in populations so that today that would really represent a 21% unemployment rate. It quickly dropped to about 21%, once FDR started working to improve conditions.

What would they base such an adjustment on?

they are going to try to make it look bad so Obama looks bad.

And yes the economy sucks. However, I'm going to take what the gallop says and consider it must be at least 5% better, if not 10%.

creating more profit and bonuses for the few and rising unemployment for the many. :P

and i continue to be now...

of my friends lost their jobs in the Early 2000's, and the job market never improved for them to come back in to the computer industry or a comparable wage in any job.

Painful--though my boss did help pay my back rent.

And I think the real reason why I'm making about twice that now is because I commute by public transport and wouldn't need a parking space!

x(
rocktivity

Depression

You're either
a. Unemployed
b. Furloughed
c. Underemployed - our office ranges from 80% to 20% employment. No one is at 100% salary.

It's been like this for a year now. and believe me, we're all grateful to be drawing a paycheck still. It's not getting any better.