Unemployment Hits 14.7 Million Another 467,000 workers became unemployed in June, sending unemployment to 14.7 million and the unemployment rate to 9.5%. Since the recession began in December 2007, 7.2 million workers have become unemployed. Over half (4.4 million) have been unemployed for over two years.

Year-over-year, there are 5.4 million fewer jobs, worse than the 2001 recession. Although that recession only lasted 8 months, it led to 29 months of job losses. This recession is 18 months old, so many more months of job losses can be expected.

There were an additional 9 million part-time workers who would have preferred full-time work, according to the Employment Report released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).(Source: BLS, Employment Situation Summary)

Manufacturing, a leading indicator, continues to decline. The economy now has 1.6 million fewer manufacturing jobs than the year before, continuing a two-year decline. Manufacturing is a leading indicator because it produces the big-ticket items consumers put off buying in a recession. Once the economy starts to improve, these orders are the first to come back. In the last recession, manufacturing jobs started to improve before the overall job market.

Tags: American Business, Jobs, Manufacturing

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