Coming in here from the outside, the whole 'Unemployment Thing' probably seems like a nebulously bad thing. It is bad - but it doesn't need to be nebulous.
The fine folks over at the Bureau of Labor Statistics recently compiled a report that makes things pretty clear, on the local level. You can go on over and study it in detail, or you can follow the easy breakdown below:
Burlington County:
2008 June Unemployment Rate: 4.8%
2009 June Unemployment Rate: 8.8%
2010 June Unemployment Rate: 9.1%
2010 August Unemployment Rate: 9.9%
Philadelphia Metro:
2008 June Unemployment Rate: 5.3%
2009 June Unemployment Rate: 8.1%
2010 June Unemployment Rate: 9.3%
Camden County:
2008 June Unemployment Rate: 5.8%
2009 June Unemployment Rate: 10.2%
2010 June Unemployment Rate: 10.6%
Camden Metro:
2008 June Unemployment Rate: 5.3%
2009 June Unemployment Rate: 9.6%
2010 June Unemployment Rate: 9.9%
In all cases, the number of jobs lost in the area has doubled, or nearly doubled, over the course of the last 104 weeks. Anyone unemployed for 99 weeks has no source of income, twice as much competition for the few available jobs on the market, and no source of food or shelter provided by the county, state or nation.
No longer nebulous. Still bad.
No comments:
Post a Comment