A CNN Money story last week indicated that 3.25 million U.S. workers were hopelessly unemployed—not looking for work in the last year because the current economic environment discourages them.
“The way we’re measuring the long-term unemployed has a lot of holes in it,” said Stephen Bronars, senior economist for Welch Consulting told CNN. “A person can be discouraged for a while, but then gets bumped over into this other category.”
The Department of Labor refers to people who have not search for work in the last four weeks as “discouraged workers”. CNN describes people who have been out of work for so long, that they have fallen of government measures as “hopelessly unemployed”. Usually, these people have been out of work for more than a year.
Five years ago, before the recession began, about 2.5 million people said they wanted a job but had not searched for one in at least a year. Now, that number is around 3.25 million, according to CNN.
“We have always had a set of people who want a job but for whatever reason are not looking,” said Heidi Shierholz, economist with the Economic Policy Institute to CNN. “But this recession was so severe and job opportunities are still so weak, this group is growing because of that.”
We sympathize for people who are struggling to find employment. Our country has serious problems when 3.25 million people who used to work are still unemployed and have not looked for employment in more than a year.
For people who are out of work and struggling to pay their bills, Chapter 13 or Chapter 7 bankruptcies are options. Filing for bankruptcy triggers automatic stay that puts an end to collection attempts by creditors.
If your financial situation is a problem, contact our Washington DC and Maryland bankruptcy lawyer now for a free consultation.
