Nationwide 6.7 Million Without Work for More than Six Months

With new jobs numbers coming in it is clear things aren't getting better for most in America. While the economy is starting to gain more jobs than lose jobs, with a gain of 231,000 jobs in April, people are going longer without work than any other time in history.

The typical time the unemployed are spending looking for work is at 5 months officially, with 45.9% or 6.7 million of those unemployed being so for over 6 months.

When we look at people who don't have enough work to pay the bills, or the underemployment rate, the numbers are staggeringly high. A total of 26.9 million workers are either unemployed or underemployed, affecting 17.1% of the workforce.

The economy did overall gain jobs, but with 805,000 new people coming of age and looking for work last month, jobs are not being created fast enough. Industries like manufacturing, retail, and food service are now seeing growth. One of the industries creating the most jobs last month was temporary help services, creating 26,200 jobs that are just that - temporary. Another source of growth are federally funded census jobs, accounting for over a third of the jobs created last month, but state and local governments loss thousands of permanent positions. When it comes to jobs the "economy recovery" is slow, based in temporary employment, and not enough to relieve those hit by the recession.

On the other hand Citigroup saw its profits more than double last quarter and Goldman Sachs had its second highest profits of all time bringing in $3.46 Billion in a three month period.

A recent report from the Pew Research Center called "Health Care Reform -- Can't Live With It, or Without It" offers the contrasting picture of what everyday people are experiencing from the high profits of the "recovery" on Wall Street.

"Nearly everyone (92%) gives the national economy a negative rating. Closer to home, 85% say that jobs are hard to find in their community. A majority (54%) now says that someone in their household has been without a job or looking for work in the past year, compared with 39% in February 2009. And the proportion saying they got a pay raise or a better job in the past year fell from 41% in January 2008 to 24% currently...

Aside from job-related issues, about a quarter (26%) say they had trouble getting or paying for medical care for themselves or their family, while 24% say they have had problems making their rent or mortgage payment. Overall, 70% of Americans say they have faced one or more job or financial-related problems in the past year, up from 59% in February 2009."