Over the past 2 days or so a few diaries have popped up with authors informing the community that they were just laid-off. Here's Binks' diary which is one example. As of last month, there are 11.1 million people unemployed according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (hereinafter BLS).
The BLS doesn't calculate unemployment simply by counting the number of unemployment benefits claims filed, it uses a method called the Current Population Survey:
There are about 60,000 households in the sample for this survey. The sample is selected so as to be representative of the entire population of the United States. In order to select the sample, first, the 3,141 counties and county-equivalent cities in the country are grouped into 1,973 geographic areas. The Bureau of the Census then designs and selects a sample consisting of 754 of these geographic areas to represent each State and the District of Columbia. The sample is a State-based design and reflects urban and rural areas, different types of industrial and farming areas, and the major geographic divisions of each State.
Each of the 754 areas in the sample is subdivided into enumeration districts of about 300 households. The enumeration districts, in turn, are divided into smaller clusters of about four dwelling units each, through the use of address lists, detailed maps, and other sources. Then, the clusters to be surveyed are chosen statistically, and the households in these clusters are interviewed.
What's the definition of employed vs. unemployed:
The basic concepts involved in identifying the employed and unemployed are quite simple:
People with jobs are employed.
People who are jobless, looking for jobs, and available for work are unemployed.
People who are neither employed nor unemployed are not in the labor force.
The survey is designed so that each person age 16 and over who is not in an institution such as a prison or mental hospital or on active duty in the Armed Forces is counted and classified in only one group. The sum of the employed and the unemployed constitutes the civilian labor force. Persons not in the labor force combined with those in the civilian labor force constitute the civilian noninstitutional population 16 years of age and over. Under these concepts, most people are quite easily classified. For example:
Elizabeth Lloyd reported to the interviewer that last week she worked 40 hours as a sales manager for the Western Beverage Company.
Steve Hogan lost his job when the local plant of the Chariot Aircraft Manufacturing Company was closed down. Since then, he has been visiting the personnel offices of the other factories in the town trying to find a job.
Linda Coleman is a homemaker. Last week, she was occupied with her normal household chores. She neither held a job nor looked for a job. Her 80-year old father who lives with her has not worked or looked for work because of a disability.
Each of these examples is clear cut. Elizabeth is employed; Steve is unemployed; and Linda and her father are not in the labor force.
Because these interviews are the basic source of data for total unemployment, information must be factual and correct. Respondents are never asked specifically if they are unemployed, nor are they given an opportunity to decide their own labor force status. Unless they already know how the Government defines unemployment, many of them may not be sure of their actual classification when the interview is completed.
If respondents have been looking for work for so long without success they may answer that they have stopped looking and thus would be taken out of the labor force since they would not be designated as "unemployed." Some of you may have already heard the argument that more people are out of work than the BLS reports because under their survey methodology the words "employed" and "unemployed" are terms of art.
My questions to the reader are:
- What's your age?
- Are you employed, unemployed, or out of the labor force
- What's your city and state?
- What was/is your occupation?
- Have you applied for unemployment benefits and if so how adequate are they and when do they run out?
- To find work are you willing to totally change careers?
It would also help to begin a discussion on advice for others on how to land a job in these hard times. Has anyone had success with the Kossack Networking Site?
For some temporary work to while you look for a permanent job some may want to work on the 2010 Census.
My mom works for the Virginia Employment Commission (VEC) and they're so busy she's had to work until 9pm for the past couple of weeks. Ironically the VEC laid-off a lot of their employees almost a year ago rather than close offices.
Discuss.