Who Says the Economic Recession Is Over,
When 15.7 million Workers Can’t Find a Job?

While Wall Street was rejoicing when the stock market hit and passed the 10,000 line, and while the White House economic advisers were cheerfully advertising signs that the economy has recovered from the recession, there was more grim news for millions of American workers unable to find a job.

In the third quarter of 2009, employers initiated 1,776 extended mass layoff “events” that resulted in 277,924 job losses, according to a report by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, issued Nov. 10. The total number of events reached a record high for any third quarter, the BLS said.

The official unemployment rate jumped from 9.8 percent in October to 10.2 percent, only one month later. But the double-digit number doesn’t even begin to reflect the hardship and misery that 15.7 million workers and their families are enduring, a great many of whom have been out of work for 27 months or more.

Most employers are getting the production they need from their reduced workforce, so they are in no rush to rehire unless business grows dramatically. Many have used the recession to reduce wages and cut labor costs. Mainstream economists see the economy expanding in the months ahead, but expect unemployment to persist at least through most of next year. Larry Mishel, director of the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), predicts that one-third of the U.S. workforce will be unemployed or underemployed through 2010.

While the latest shocking jobless figures will probably increase a demand for a second stimulus package, the Obama’s administration is opposed to the idea. They say that nearly one million jobs have been saved or created because of the administration’s $787 billion stimulus plan, and that the White House is on track to meet the President’s goal of 3.5 million jobs by the end of next year.

What the Obama economic team does not appear to factor in is that there are more than two million new entrants into the nation’s labor force who will be looking for jobs. And there will be a considerable shrinkage in the number of available jobs from companies that will no longer be in business.

Trumka Says AFL-CIO Will Unveil Job Creation Plan This Month

The AFL-CIO has focused almost all of its attention on two legislative priorities: the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) and passage of a universal health-care insurance bill. There has been relatively little done to campaign for jobs for the unemployed, even as layoffs continue to mount.

Of course, the Federation and its affiliated unions have pressed for repeated extensions of unemployment insurance benefits to provide some temporary relief for the long-time jobless. And many unions are on record in demanding a second stimulus package. However, they have not managed to persuade the Obama administration to create public works jobs similar to those that were initiated during the Great Depression.

At a recent meeting in the White House to discuss job creation, President Obama said that “bold, innovative action” would be needed from the administration, Congress and the private sector to undo the devastation in the labor market. The words, however, were not followed by decisive action.

Richard Truman, the AFL-CIO’s new president, sees the latest unemployment figures as evidence for the need of an additional stimulus package. It should be a wake-up call to sleepy politicians,” he says. He revealed that the AFL-CIO and its allies are “unveiling an effort this month to push for immediate job creation among other critically-needed economic aid for working families.”

The millions of unemployed, who have felt helpless and neglected., will surely be grateful to the AFL-CIO for any assistance they receive. And what better way to recruit unorganized workers into unions than by providing them with jobs in their hour of need?

LaborTalk (14) will be posted on Tuesday, November 17, 2009.