Unemployment Rate Continues to Rise
May 8, 2009 - The Bureau of Labor Statistics released its monthly unemployment figures today. The recent data show that the national unemployment rate continued to rise in April, reaching 8.9%. This is the highest unemployment rate since 1983, and is a .4% increase from the unemployment rate of 8.5% in March of this year. Total job losses since the downturn began in December, 2007 now total 5.7 million jobs lost nationally.
The unempoyment rate in Philadelphia has exceeded the national unemployment rate by approximately one percent during the past few years, and unemployment in Philadelphia in 2009 will most likely continue to exceed the national rate by a similar amount.
This downturn has been particularly hard on minorities. The national unemployment rate for African-Americans in April reached 15%, and 11.3% for Hispanics.
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And unemployment rates only tell part of the story
Unemployment rates only measure people who are currently collecting unemployment benefits, which are not available to people who were self-employed and now don't have work, people who got fired, people who were being paid under the table, people who recently graduated from high school or college and can't find a job... Or people who have exceeded the amount of time for unemployment benefits and have been cut off even though they still haven't found work. Thanks for this important post--just wanted to add that bit of info.