Unemployment Woes

Here’s a link to a really detailed breakdown of the current unemployment picture, as well as a look at how it works out as we move into the next decade click here. It is not a pretty picture.

The short version is simply that we need to create about 100,000 new jobs a month, just to keep pace with demographics. At the peak of the Internet bubble the US economy was cranking out about 250,000 new jobs a month. However, since the beginning of this current or recently departed recession, depending on your point-of-view, the US economy has lost about 7,300,000 jobs. The unemployment rate at the beginning of the recession was 4.9%, basically full employment. So if we assume a very energetic economy, like we had during the Internet bubble, that can create 250,000 jobs a month, it will take about 49 months to gain back those lost jobs, keeping in mind that 100,000 jobs a month is just to keep up with the population growth.

If you believe that is possible, I also have some excellent swamp land for sale.