We’re still bleeding jobs, But the blood loss is slowing.
Posted by Paul Lebowitz on Monday, November 9, 2009 · Leave a Comment
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U.S. unemployment hit a shocking 10.2% in October. Worse yet, the “real” unemployment rate, which adds in things such as discouraged workers who have dropped out of the labor force, hit 17.5%. Ouch. Yet there’s some light at the end of the tunnel. While the unemployment rate and “real” unemployment rate rose in October, the rate of deterioration (year over year change) for both measures kept falling, as shown above. Moreover, the trend of the more conservative “real” unemployment rate (in red) improved faster than that of standard unemployment (in blue).
Thus we’re still bleeding jobs and it hurts, but the blood loss is slowing rapidly and starting to come under control. Hopefully the patient still has a pulse by the time the blood stops.
