Source:  Dr. Mike Walden, NCSU COLLEGE OF AG & LIFE SCIENCES, 7/20/11

 

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Economists are becoming increasingly worried about what they call long-term unemployment. N.C. State University economist Mike Walden defines the term and explains what worries it creates.

“Well , we define long term unemployment as someone who is unemployed for more than 26 weeks. And if we use that definition, we currently see that long-term unemployment in the country is at its highest level in 50 years.  Forty percent of people who are now unemployed are in that category of being unemployed for a long term.

“Now why should we worry about this? Well, several studies show that the longer that a person is unemployed, the harder it is for that person to get a job.  So, one reason we worry about long-term unemployment is whether those folks become unemployable after a certain period of time.

“It may also indicate something about skill preparation — that is to say, people who have been unemployed for a long period of time may be in that situation because they don’t have the right skills for the jobs that are available. So, this could come back to a training and educational issue.

“But clearly economists are not only now worried about unemployment, but we’re increasingly worried about folks who’ve been unemployed for this long period of time.”

Where is unemployment low?

Date posted: July 19, 2011

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Everyone knows unemployment’s high, but perhaps what’s not as well known is that unemployment rates can vary significantly with a number of factors. N.C. State University economist Mike Walden discusses where unemployment rates are the lowest.

“Well, last year in the nation, the unemployment rate averaged 9.6 percent.  But if you were a college graduate the unemployment rate was only 4.7% percent. If you were someone working in the health-care or education sector, your unemployment rate was 5.8 percent. Someone who was in a professional occupation — architect, engineer, lawyer, doctor, et cetera — unemployment rate 4.5 percent. And someone who was age 55 or older, the unemployment rate was 7 percent.

“So, clearly there are both demographic factors as well as factors related to jobs where you have a much lower unemployment rate. Now obviously an individual person can’t do anything about their age. But what this does say is that if you do have an opportunity to manage your career and pick a career, your best chances of keeping a job are, number one, graduate from college to go into a professional occupation and to work in the health-care or education sector.”