Job market update and unemployment

Jobs: Signs of strength, pockets of pain

         This article helps analyze deeper into the job report of the past month of August. While just at face value, only a disappointing 142,000 jobs were created in August; however, there is evidence that shows some parts of the job market that are fairly strong and or improving. While there are still struggles for younger workers, minorities, and those without college degrees to find work, there seems to still be a demand for labor out there. One result of the recession was the increase in long-term unemployment. Now the total number of long-term unemployment is steadily decreasing. Furthermore, the number of people who are characterized as “underemployed”, or those who are looking for full-time work but had to settle for part-time work, is down nearly 1 million from last summer. Even the unemployment for youth’s has been on the high end; it also seems to be falling slowly. However, these numbers may be worse than suggested because young adults who cannot find work may be dropping out of the labor force for further schooling. With the small improvements stated throughout most of the article, the very end states the racial difference that still remains in the job market. Black unemployment is still in the double digits while Hispanic unemployment is still higher than that of whites.

            For me this article was very informational in getting me up to speed with the job market and unemployment in our country. As we are still recovering from the recession of 2008, it is encouraging to see the progress we are making, small or not. That being said, there is still a lot left to do to reduce unemployment. Personally, racial difference in unemployment numbers is a big issue that hopefully will improve in the short future.

http://money.cnn.com/2014/09/05/news/economy/jobs-strength-pain/index.html?iid=HP_River