1/1/11

America's Real Unemployment Rate

According to the latest official statistics, the unemployment rate in America was 9.4%. But if you reckon the people who have given up looking for work, taken on menial part-time jobs, taken early retirement, dropped out of the labor market to go back to school, stayed on to earn a higher degree upon graduation from college, and embarked on a business that never bore fruit, the actual rate is about 25%, about the same as Greece and Spain.

Americans are a law-abiding but not a docile people. They are fast losing patience. If their employment situation doesn't improve soon, many are likely to lash out hard, in some cases violently, at the powers-that-be they deem responsible for the problem. A Middle East like revolt? Could very well happen in the more depressed parts of the country. Republican and Democratic politicos take heed. The unrest might already be brewing.

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