The Jobless Rate for People Like You

[FHwku]

here's an interactive graph so you can see where your demographic lands in the job market:

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2...ent-lines.html


here's a state-by-state unemployment rate using the numbers from September (2009):
http://money.cnn.com/pf/features/lis..._unemployment/

you can also just Google [unemployment rate] [county, state] and it'll bring up a chart using numbers from as recent as 2 months prior (not seasonally adjusted.) you can get more raw data from the bureau of labor statistics, but it's tedious to navigate and looks like this: http://www.bls.gov/web/cpseea13.pdf

i think 44-46% of 16-to 24-year-olds are unemployed. people who enter the job market during a slump end up earning a lot less over time. these are the people who are supposed to be paying for social security benefits and stuff in the future.

i wonder what % of people strongly like charts and graphs.

[dukemama]

Only 3.6% for my demographic. Hmm, I wonder if I should be happy or sad looking at that statistic, seeing as I've been unemployed since January...

[christiangirl]

13.8% for me.

I know it's not possible to keep it as I am moving across the country, but seeing the numbers makes me feel a little guilty about quitting my job.

ETA: Especially when I'm moving to a state where apparently almost half the people are unemployed. Great.

[AOII Angel]

It's good to be a college educated white woman aged 25 to 44

[Honeykiss1974]

For my group, its 6.7%.

[pshsx1]

25.8%... hot damn.

Hm the rest of my family, though, is between 6% and 7%, though.

[Senusret I]

8.3% for black men ages 25 to 44 with a college degree.

[christiangirl]

I wonder what the rates are for those who have advanced degrees? The ones who can't find a top tier job in their field but are overqualified for everything else? That's a huge thing among my classmates right now. Nearly everyone who just graduated in May are unemployed because there are no jobs available except retail/holiday work and they keep getting shut out of those because they have Master's degrees.

[tld221]

Originally Posted by AOII Angel

It's good to be a college educated white woman aged 25 to 44

Isn't it, typically?

Originally Posted by christiangirl

I wonder what the rates are for those who have advanced degrees? The ones who can't find a top tier job in their field but are overqualified for everything else? That's a huge thing among my classmates right now. Nearly everyone who just graduated in May are unemployed because there are no jobs available except retail/holiday work and they keep getting shut out of those because they have Master's degrees.

That last part is interesting. I'm being encouraged to pursue my master's while its still a "recession" so ill be competitive when we come out this slump. Seems like the opposite to me-getting a degree would put me in the pool of those looking for better paying work and can't find it.

[AGDee]

Originally Posted by christiangirl

13.8% for me.

I know it's not possible to keep it as I am moving across the country, but seeing the numbers makes me feel a little guilty about quitting my job.

ETA: Especially when I'm moving to a state where apparently almost half the people are unemployed. Great.

Were you reading the rank as the number of people who were unemployed? Because Michigan is the highest unemployment at 9.6% (that was in September, it's over 10 now) and that's nowhere near half. (Although, it feels like about half of our households have been affected somehow).

One of the difficult things about the unemployment rate is that it doesn't count people who 1) Took early retirement buyouts and don't collect unemployment, 2) the underemployed.. people who once held professional jobs who are working retail, etc. now or have had their hours reduced or 3) those whose unemployment benefits have expired or who were never eligible for it in the first place.

[christiangirl]

Originally Posted by tld221

That last part is interesting. I'm being encouraged to pursue my master's while its still a "recession" so ill be competitive when we come out this slump. Seems like the opposite to me-getting a degree would put me in the pool of those looking for better paying work and can't find it.

Yeah, that's the theory. We'll be super competitive when this thing is over, but no one took into account those who graduate while we're still in it. Oh well, poked my head out and it's still a mess, so I'll just pop back in for another degree and see how it is when I come out again.

Originally Posted by AGDee

Were you reading the rank as the number of people who were unemployed? Because Michigan is the highest unemployment at 9.6% (that was in September, it's over 10 now) and that's nowhere near half. (Although, it feels like about half of our households have been affected somehow).

Oh yes, I thought those were percentages. Thanks, it's not quite the crisis situation I imagined.

[KSUViolet06]

6.7% for my group.

[Xidelt]

My husband and I are both employed and are grateful to have jobs. However, we would like to move within our field and that is something that we are not able to do right now. We both work as public school teachers and we both teach in a district that is 45+ miles from our home. Both of us tried to get teaching positions in districts that are closer to our home last year, and it wasn't happening. I don't see it happening either this year. In addition to getting hired closer to my home, I would like to move out of the classroom into a position as a school librarian. I know many teachers who would like to move into positions as counselors or administrators, and this economy is making it tough to do that.

[als463]

Originally Posted by christiangirl

I wonder what the rates are for those who have advanced degrees? The ones who can't find a top tier job in their field but are overqualified for everything else? That's a huge thing among my classmates right now. Nearly everyone who just graduated in May are unemployed because there are no jobs available except retail/holiday work and they keep getting shut out of those because they have Master's degrees.

I hate when people say that you are "over-qualified" for a job. When I first graduated from Penn State, I was worried about the economy. I put in applications everywhere. I even applied at a local factory. The guy interviewing me looked at me like I was nuts as he said, "You realize this is not for any management position. This is factory work." I nodded my head in agreement that I understood. He then proceeded to run down my list of accomplishments and asked me why I would want to work there when I was "clearly over-qualified" for the jobs he could offer me. I explained that I was not above working in a factory. Needless to say, I was not offered the job.

There have been other times that I have been told I was over-qualified. I've learned that if you are really concerned you won't get the job based on being "over-qualified" you are better off "omitting" that you have a Masters degree. Once I did that, I had job offers all over the place.

This economy sucks. Sometimes you have to play the numbers game. I am def. going to play down my education if I choose to get a certain retail job over the summer break while doing unpaid internships. It sucks that you have to do that.

[cheerfulgreek]

3.6% for mine.