The Jobless Rate for People Like You

[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.

[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.