Unemployment 9.7%...I Don't Think So.!!!

The drop in unemployment is just another shell game the government is playing with the American public. The 9.7% unemployment rate just means that there are less people collecting unemployment benefits. I would say conservatively the real jobless rate is more than double. With companies eliminating jobs and laying people off at a breakneck pace, how can the jobless rate go down?

Plenty of Americans are still unemployed or under employed. Many laid off workers have been out of work so long that they no longer qualify for unemployment or choose to work odd part-time positions, for which they are extremely overqualified, rather than collect the unemployment benefit. Many workers don’t collect because of pride and the benefits simply do not come close to the amount of income needed to cover their cost of living. In Illinois the take home benefit is around $1,800 per month for a family of four. This does not even cover the cost of a mortgage for some people.

There is also the new trend of companies hiring people as “consultants”. They hire desperate, highly skilled and educated professionals to work for their company on a temp basis. They pay no benefits, vacation and have the right to release you without notice for any reason. Many reputable firms and banks use this practice to lower their costs and get more bang for their buck since the amount of available talent out there far exceeds the number of jobs.

One of the primary necessities of a strong economy is the financial security of its people. So the next time Washington hints that things are turning around, take the information with a grain of salt from the pillar of salt and sand that they are using as a base to rebuild the economy.