We are facing a global jobs crisis, said Juan Somavia, head of the International Labour Organisation (ILO). As the worst global downturn since the war tightens its grip, employers across the globe have been swinging the axe in earnest. Last Monday alone saw over 70,000 jobs cut by seven companies across Europe and the US. Spain lost almost 200,000 jobs in January, a record monthly jump. Jobless claims are now at around 3.3 million, a 47% rise from November.
Irelands unemployment rate has almost doubled to 9.2% in a year. China estimates that 20 million migrant workers, or one sixth of the total, have lost their jobs over the past few months. According to the ILO, worldwide unemployment could rise by 50 million to 230 million this year a 27% rise from 2007 levels. The potential social and political fallout, said the ILO, is daunting.
Real Unemployment Figures Double Those Reported By Labor Department
The national media frenzy about the U.S. unemployment rate shooting up to 7.6% doesnt even do justice to the actual unemployment figure, which in reality stands at around 15 per cent, just 9 per cent shy of the unemployment total at the very height of the great depression.
Current methods of tallying unemployment figures do not even take into account workers who have stopped looking for work. If a worker becomes discouraged after being unable to find a job and stops looking, they disappear from the official record.
Actual unemployment figures are therefore 5 to 10 per cent higher than publicly stated by the Labor Department, meaning the real unemployment figures stands at roughly 15 per cent.
During the great depression, where unemployment figures were more accurately inclusive of the true unemployment rate, the figure for the years 1923-29 was 3.3 percent before accelerating to to 15.9 per cent in 1931 and peaking at 24.9 percent in 1933.
If the Labor Department were massaging the numbers to an even greater extent, which certainly isnt beyond question in light of fragile economic confidence, the real unemployment figure could be anything up to 20 per cent, which is rapidly approaching a comparable rate to the very worst period of the great depression.
Judging by Canadas unemployment numbers, the real U.S. figure could be up to double that announced, even before we take into account how jobless people looking for work are not counted.
Compared to the stated U.S. job losses of 600,000, Canada has lost 129,000 jobs in January. The population of the U.S. is around 300 million compared to 30 million in Canada. Therefore in comparison with the U.S., Canada should have only lost around 60,00 jobs. The figure of 129,000 means that Canadas unemployment figures are over double what would have been expected. Either that or the U.S. figures are being artificially under-reported
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