Full Time Workers Fully Under Pressure: November 2011

Today’s employment situation report showed that in November the full time unemployment rate declined to 9.2% of the civilian workforce but remains near the highest rate seen in 41 years.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics considers full time workers to be those “who have expressed a desire to work full time (35 hours or more per week) or are on layoff from full-time jobs”.

Full time jobless workers currently account for roughly 88.5% of all unemployed workers.

Recovery-less Recovery: Unemployment Duration November 2011

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Today's employment situation report showed that conditions for the long term unemployed were mixed in November and remained epically distressed by historic standards.

Workers unemployed 27 weeks or more declined to 5.691 million or 43% of all unemployed workers while the median number of weeks unemployed increased to 21.6 weeks and the average stay on unemployment increased to 40.9 weeks, the highest level ever recorded.

Looking at the charts below (click for super interactive versions) you can see that today’s sorry situation far exceeds even the conditions seen during the double-dip recessionary period of the early 1980s, long considered by economists to be the worst period of unemployment since the Great Depression.

On The Margin: Total Unemployment November 2011

Today’s Employment Situation report showed that in November “total unemployment” including all marginally attached workers declined to 15.6% from the prior month's level of 16.2% while the traditionally reported unemployment rate also declined to 8.6%.

The traditional unemployment rate is calculated from the monthly household survey results using a fairly explicit definition of “unemployed” (essentially unemployed and currently looking for full time employment) leaving many workers to be considered effectively “on the margin” either employed in part time work when full time is preferred or simply unemployed and no longer looking for work.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics considers “marginally attached” workers (including discouraged workers) and persons who have settled for part time employment to be “underutilized” labor.

The broadest view of unemployment would include both traditionally unemployed workers and all other underutilized workers.

To calculate the “total” rate of unemployment we would simply use this larger group rather than the smaller and more restrictive “unemployed” group used in the traditional unemployment rate calculation.