The real number of unemployed in the United States is far more than the federal government’s official count and the recovery could be long and tenuous, a Federal Reserve official told the Chattanooga, Tennessee, Area Chamber of Commerce last week in a speech that received some media attention.

“If one considers the people who would like a job but have stopped looking — so-called discouraged workers — and those who are working fewer hours than they want, the unemployment rate would move from the official 9.4 percent to 16 percent,” explained the President and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, Dennis Lockhart.

As reported by the AFP in an article entitled “Real US unemployment rate at 16 pct: Fed official,” Lockhart noted that neither category is considered by the U.S. labor department in its monthly unemployment estimates. He also noted that the number of people working part-time due to the economic situation has increased more in the current crisis than at any time since the Bureau of Labor Statistics started tracking the information.

He warned of a long period of high joblessness that could not be “stimulated” away with more government spending and said some of the jobs that were lost may never come back.

“My forecast for a slow recovery implies a protracted period of high unemployment,” he continued. “If my prognosis for the broad economy is correct, the pace of job restoration and growth through the medium term will be frustratingly slow.”

Source: Fed Official Admits 16% Unemployment

As the Obama administration struggles to fix the economy, fifteen US states hit 10 percent unemployment, the US Labor Department says.

The department announced on Friday that unemployment topped 10 percent in 15 states across America and the District of Columbia for the month of June.

In Michigan, the jobless rate surpassed 15 percent. It is the first time in 25 years that any US state has been challenged with an unemployment rate so high, ever since 1984 in West Virginia.

The other 14 states are Alabama, California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, Nevada, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Carolina and Tennessee.

The previous report in May recorded thirteen states and the District of Columbia surpassing a jobless rate of 10 percent. Alabama and Georgia joined the latest list in June.

The Federal Reserve this week projected that the national unemployment rate, currently at a 26-year high of 9.5 percent, will pass 10 percent by the end of this year.

Most Federal policymakers say it could take “five or six years” for the economy and the labor market to get back on a path of long-term health.

President Barack Obama’s top economic adviser, Lawrence Summers, said that the administration and other independent forecasters had underestimated job losses.

He said it was unclear why employers had shed so many workers in this downturn, the New York Times reported

http://www.presstv.com/detail.aspx?id=101016&sectionid=3510203

US government data shows new jobless claims have jumped by 15,000 to a seasonally adjusted 627,000 due to layoffs related to the end of the school year.

The Labor Department figures show the number of those filing first-time claims for jobless benefits increased despite signs of recovery in the recession-hit US economy.

The report says continued claims for receiving jobless insurance increased by 29,000 to 6.74 million in the week ending June 13.

Official figures indicate that a growing number of teachers, cafeteria workers and other school employees have joined the line of unemployed people.

On Tuesday, US President Barack Obama warned that unemployment would reach a double-digit figure despite the approval of a $787-billion stimulus plan early this year.

Obama told a White House news conference that his administration would propose no new stimulus package in the face of the deepening recession.

The US unemployment rate hit a 25-year high of 9.4 percent in May, while the Obama administration has predicted the figure to be no more than 8 percent by the end of 2009.

“I think it’s pretty clear now that unemployment will end up going over 10 percent,” AFP quoted Obama as saying.

The president predicted “a difficult, difficult year” for Americans, saying, “We’re still not at actual recovery yet.”

Although the economic downturn is expected to fade away by late summer, experts believe that unemployment will stay high well into the next year and will not return quickly to the pre-recession levels of around 5 percent.

Unemployment at highest level in 25 years

Auto states post double digits

By David M. Dickson (Contact) | Saturday, June 20, 2009

The turmoil ravaging General Motors and Chrysler generated big jumps in joblessness last month throughout the Midwest, sending Michigan’s unemployment rate above 14 percent and pushing three nearby states into double digits.

Jobless rates in Illinois and Indiana surpassed 10 percent, while Ohio’s approached 11 percent, according to data released Friday in a Labor Department report.

The half-percentage-point jump in the national unemployment rate rippled throughout the country as 48 states and the District of Columbia reported increases in their jobless rates in May.

The U.S. unemployment rate rose from 8.9 percent in April to 9.4 percent in May, its highest level in more than a quarter-century. The rate was 10.8 percent near the end of 1982.

The Michigan unemployment rate soared from 12.9 percent in April to a national peak of 14.1 percent in May.

“If you count marginally attached workers, discouraged workers and workers employed part-time for economic reasons, the ‘true’ unemployment rate is much higher – 17.2 percent in the past year in Michigan, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics,” said Peter Ruark of the Michigan League for Human Services.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/jun/20/unemployment-rate-hits-highest-level-in-25-years/