Another month, another grim employment report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The latest report, which provides employment data for December 2008, shows that in that month another 524,000 workers lost their jobs. That makes 1.9 million jobs lost just in the last 4 months of 2008, and 2.6 million jobs lost in total for the year.
That puts the unemployment rate at 7.2% — the highest level of unemployment the nation has seen since January 1993.
Even more disturbingly, while many workers have lost their jobs outright, many more have found themselves shunted into “under-employment” — being forced to work part-time because of a lack of full-time jobs. In December 2007, 4.6 million workers were involuntarily working part-time; one year later, that number had nearly doubled, spiking to 8 million.
So if you were wondering if the need for bold action to stimulate the economy is real — the answer is yes.