Millions of Unemployed Face Years Without Jobs

An article from the New York Times discussed the growth of "new poor" in America. These new poor are not recipients of generational poverty (People whose parents and grandparents passed down poverty conditions), but those who recently lost their jobs and cannot find suitable employment in the economic recession.

Economists fear that the nascent recovery will leave more people behind than in past recessions, failing to create jobs in sufficient numbers to absorb the record-setting ranks of the long-term unemployed.

Call them the new poor: people long accustomed to the comforts of middle-class life who are now relying on public assistance for the first time in their lives — potentially for years to come.

Yet the social safety net is already showing severe strains. Roughly 2.7 million jobless people will lose their unemployment check before the end of April unless Congress approves the Obama administration’s proposal to extend the payments, according to the Labor Department.

This is why the timing is as important as ever to focus on poverty reduction in hand with economic growth and job creation. Improving and expanding educational initiatives could be a key factor in the upcoming years:

Some labor experts say the basic functioning of the American economy has changed in ways that make jobs scarce — particularly for older, less-educated people like Ms. Eisen, who has only a high school diploma.

Large companies are increasingly owned by institutional investors who crave swift profits, a feat often achieved by cutting payroll. The declining influence of unions has made it easier for employers to shift work to part-time and temporary employees. Factory work and even white-collar jobs have moved in recent years to low-cost countries in Asia and Latin America. Automation has helped manufacturing cut 5.6 million jobs since 2000 — the sort of jobs that once provided lower-skilled workers with middle-class paychecks.

History is not exactly favoring a quick revival of jobs:

After the recessions in 1990 and in 2001, 31 and 46 months passed before employment returned to its previous peaks. The economy was growing, but companies remained conservative in their hiring.

Some 34 million people were hired into new and existing private-sector jobs in 2000, at the tail end of an expansion, according to Labor Department data. A year later, in the midst of recession, hiring had fallen off to 31.6 million. And as late as 2003, with the economy again growing, hiring in the private sector continued to slip, to 29.8 million.

It was a jobless recovery: Business was picking up, but it simply did not translate into more work. This time, hiring may be especially subdued, labor economists say.

It is important we focus on securing our social nets, making it possible for our citizens to build assets, retrain our workforce for modern jobs and make education more accessible for all. These issues, on top of blockbuster topics such as health care and energy, should make this a particularly challenging decade. During this time of rebuilding, it is important that we shed the "me-first" mentality and focus on values that encourage sustainability for entire communities.

Read the full article here:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/21/business/economy/21unemployed.html?pagewanted=2&em