Long Term Jobless, Although Declining is Still High

The brief article from Market Watch basically states that although the long-term unemployed (27 weeks or more) are declining they still make up just over 1/3 (35.3% in April and 34.6% in May) of the unemployed.  Just in case you were wondering why everyone is talking about a recovery, but GDP growth seems so anemic.  Without a jobs recovery strong economic growth is tough.

Other sources of job information:

http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.t12.htm

http://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/empsit.pdf

What Janet Yellen sees in her employment dashboard.

After a flurry of ecstatic headlines over Friday's Job report, here’s one sobering statistic: the long-term jobless continue to make up more than one-third of total unemployment.

People out of work for at least 27 weeks lose hope and job-ready skills. Their families face growing financial distress. And employers often look past their resumes.

The  3.45 MM jobless workers in April who had been looking for a new spot for at least 27 weeks made up about 35.3% of total unemployed, a “disturbingly high” rate, said Gregory Daco, lead U.S. economist at Oxford Economics.

And while that share is down from 37.4% a year ago, it’s more than twice a rate of 17.4% when the recession started at the end of 2007, according to the U.S. Labor Department data.

Jason Furman, chairman of the White House’s Council of Economic Advisers, pointed out after the data’s release that the long-term unemployed remain a “pressing issue,” and urged Congress to reinstate extended unemployment-insurance benefits. . . . 

. . . . “Fed Chair Yellen’s dashboard still suggests there is a substantial amount of slack in the labor market. We think the Fed has ample room to pursue accommodative policy and expect patience on rates,” BNP Paribas analysts wrote in a research note.