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Wednesday, June 8, 2011

The Forgotten Americans: The Underemployed

The last rant showed you the numbers about long term unemployment.  This story from the AAARP Bulletin tells you the human side.

"Half a salary is better than none.  And these days, it takes 50-year old Phil Bookfor three part time jobs just to earn that.  After 17 years at the Tropicana Casino and Resort in Atlantic City, NJ, where he worked as a supervisor making $48,000 a year, Bookfor got laid off in 2007.  He's been unable to land a full time job since. So he works as a waiter at two restaurants and as a concierge at a convention center-sometimes all three in the same week."

More; "To make ends meet, laid off managers now work as cashiers.  Unemployed teachers are delivering pizzas.  Engineers are fixing computers.  These are the underemployed, and according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, their growth as a group is Unprecedented".

I have been babbling about a rapidly developing two tier economy, e.g., the 5% Richy Riches and the 95% rest of us.  However, it is becoming increasingly clear that it is a three tier economy.  The third tier is the growing number of people who are permanently unemployed.  We are becoming France.

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