by toomuchtodo on 3/11/25, 6:29 PM with 20 comments
by 0cf8612b2e1e on 3/11/25, 7:45 PM
So unemployment — as we’d like to say it: “functional unemployment” — it’s really in the 20s, which is horrifying. And for people of color, it’s much worse.
If you look at the linked “functional unemployment” chart (https://www.lisep.org/tru) the numbers in the past three years are the lowest on record. It has been on a consistent downward trajectory, minus 2008 crash plus COVID, so that does not seem worth highlighting. The basket of goods argument (the representative purchases for a household is unrepresentative) is more compelling.by gruez on 3/11/25, 8:10 PM
This is an unsatisfying explanation. By his own admission these factors has been happening for the past two decades, but the divergence between consumer expectations and "fundamentals" only really happened post pandemic:
by borgdefenser on 3/11/25, 10:46 PM
The internet gave people hope about the future in 1999 but now with the internet our desires can never match the reality that follows.
Instead people live in either a post-bubble crash that is about to crash further or if things are going well that just means we are in a super bubble that will have a historic crash. Repeat.
by Leary on 3/11/25, 8:49 PM
by kittikitti on 3/11/25, 10:49 PM
by dumbledoren on 3/12/25, 6:12 PM
by chickenpotpie on 3/11/25, 9:09 PM
> Well, all that is absolutely true, but sadly it’s even worse than that. What it doesn’t account for is people who have a piece of a job — they work an hour or two here and there, but they want a full-time job. It doesn’t account for that.
The BLS does track that as part of the U-6 unemployment rate which is near a 20 year low. The U-6 unemployment rate counts people that work less than 35 hours per week, but want to work more hours, as unemployed.