Category Archives: depression 2.0
U.S. Imports from Canada down 50%
Import declines seem to have hit bottom and are now on the way up.
US at 17.5% Unemployed and Underemployed
The New York Times published an article on November 6th that talked to the point that the “broader measure of unemployment stands at 17.5%“.
The 17.5% rate includes the officially unemployed, who have looked for work in the last four weeks. It also includes discouraged workers, who have looked in the past year, as well as millions of part-time workers who want to be working full time.
The actual rate of underemployment may be even higher since the official government definitions and measures of unemployment miss other underemployment cases.
According to wikipedia, in economics, the term underemployment has three different distinct meanings and applications. All meanings involve a situation in which a person is working, unlike unemployment, where a person who is searching for work cannot find a job. Underemployment can mean:
- The employment of workers with high skill levels in low-wage jobs that do not require such abilities, for example a trained medical doctor who works as a taxi driver.
- “Involuntary part-time” workers — workers who could (and would like to) be working for a full work-week but can only find part-time work. By extension, the term is also used in regional planning to describe regions where economic activity rates are unusually low, due to a lack of job opportunities, training opportunities, or due to a lack of services such as childcare and public transportation.
- “Overstaffing” or “hidden unemployment”, the practice in which businesses or entire economies employ workers who are not fully occupied—for example, workers currently not being used to produce goods or services due to legal or social restrictions or because the work is highly seasonal.
Former U.S. labour secretary Robert Reich has said that he believes the Unofficial U.S. jobless rate could be as high as 20%.
Related:
Latest Employment Stats for October
| Region | Unemployment Rate |
|---|---|
| Ottawa | 5.2% |
| Gatineau | 5.9% |
| Ontario | 9.3% |
| Canada | 8.6% |
| U.S. | 10.2% (26 year high) / 17.5% (including underemployed) |
The Globe and Mail has this interactive webpage that gives numbers by city and province:
BMO publishes employment reports for the US and Canada.
Stats Canada Labour Force Survey Nov 6, 2009 provides some insights in the job types and associated impacts:
| September 2009 | October 2009 | September to October 2009 | October 2008 to October 2009 | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Seasonally adjusted | ||||||
| thousands | % change | |||||
| Class of worker | ||||||
| Employees | 14,110.5 | 14,039.8 | -0.5 | -3.5 | ||
| Self-employed | 2,727.5 | 2,755.0 | 1.0 | 3.9 | ||
| Public/private sector employees | ||||||
| Public | 3,433.0 | 3,407.4 | -0.7 | -1.6 | ||
| Private | 10,677.5 | 10,632.3 | -0.4 | -4.1 | ||
| All industries | 16,838.0 | 16,794.8 | -0.3 | -2.3 | ||
| Goods-producing sector | 3,714.6 | 3,708.3 | -0.2 | -8.2 | ||
| Agriculture | 319.5 | 321.9 | 0.8 | -1.3 | ||
| Natural resources | 313.0 | 301.7 | -3.6 | -11.0 | ||
| Utilities | 150.3 | 149.9 | -0.3 | 0.9 | ||
| Construction | 1,166.8 | 1,178.0 | 1.0 | -5.8 | ||
| Manufacturing | 1,765.0 | 1,756.8 | -0.5 | -11.0 | ||
| Services-producing sector | 13,123.4 | 13,086.4 | -0.3 | -0.5 | ||
| Trade | 2,662.9 | 2,632.1 | -1.2 | -1.7 | ||
| Transportation and warehousing | 797.7 | 819.9 | 2.8 | -5.8 | ||
| Finance, insurance, real estate and leasing | 1,121.1 | 1,118.0 | -0.3 | 4.4 | ||
| Professional, scientific and technical services | 1,199.8 | 1,196.9 | -0.2 | -0.6 | ||
| Business, building and other support services | 645.8 | 639.0 | -1.1 | -4.6 | ||
| Educational services | 1,188.4 | 1,196.5 | 0.7 | -1.0 | ||
| Health care and social assistance | 1,946.8 | 1,955.1 | 0.4 | 1.7 | ||
| Information, culture and recreation | 791.5 | 785.1 | -0.8 | 4.8 | ||
| Accommodation and food services | 1,032.0 | 1,034.5 | 0.2 | -2.9 | ||
| Other services | 805.4 | 785.5 | -2.5 | 2.5 | ||
| Public administration | 932.0 | 923.8 | -0.9 | -3.1 | ||
US States With More then 10% Unemployment
| Michigan | 15.20% |
| Rhode Island | 12.40% |
| Oregon | 12.20% |
| South Carolina | 12.10% |
| Nevada | 12% |
| California | 11.60% |
| Ohio | 11.10% |
| North Carolina | 11% |
| District of Columbia | 10.90% |
| Kentucky | 10.90% |
| Tennessee | 10.80% |
| Indiana | 10.70% |
| Florida | 10.60% |
| Illinois | 10.30% |
| Alabama | 10.10% |
| Georgia | 10.10% |
JobNob – Linking Unemployed and Startups?
I like watching what is going on in Silicon Valley in general. There are always good tech and trend insights. But there are also some very innovative ideas related to social innovation.
For instance there is the “JobNob” events being held in the valley. JobNob links unemployed people with start-ups looking for volunteers to give a win-win to both. The JobNob pitch is below:
Come “Jobnob” with cool new startups and other job seekers at this informal networking happy hour where unemployed people who want to keep their skills sharp are matched up with startups that could use their help.
- Bummed Out Job Seekers – are you willing to volunteer at least 5 hours a week for a startup? Help out a startup and you’ll get a leg up on the competition, keep your skills sharp and have some good experience to put on your resume. And when the giant gears of the economy start churning again, you could well be one of the first ones back on the payroll.
- Cash Strapped Startups – are you willing to buy a smart, talented, unemployed person a drink? Come with one or two specific projects that you need accomplished and we’ll help you find the perfect person to get the job done. And if you get funded you can always hire them!
They have run three JobNob events so far and have two more scheduled for August and September.
Related information and press coverage is available here.
This would be a great program to have running in Ottawa. Organizations such as Lead to Win, OCRI, The Ottawa Network, CATA or Ottawa Talent Initiative would be good sponsor organizations to make this happen locally.
Fewer People Dying?
According to the Globe and Mail today - the funeral industry is in decline due to a decline in the death rate.
