The Christian Science Monitor reports that “Counting underutilized and marginally attached workers, the unemployment rate rose in April, according to the new jobs report”, to 15.9% for “total unemployment” and 9% for the standard rate of joblessness.
And according to CNNMoney.com’s “Bailout Tracker”, this increase in joblessness has occurred despite the staggering commitment to date of $11 trillion in federal spending since the beginning of the financial crisis in 2008: $700 billion from TARP, $6.4 trillion in Federal Reserve “rescue efforts”, $1.2 trillion in economic stimulus,$182 billion in bailouts for AIG, $45.4 billion in FDIC bank takeovers, $1.7 trillion in “other financial initiatives”, and $745 billion in “other housing initiatives”.
As the Monitor notes:
Today�s Employment Situation report showed that in April �total unemployment� including all marginally attached workers increased to 15.9% while the traditionally reported unemployment rate increased to 9%.
The traditional unemployment rate is calculated from the monthly household survey results using a fairly explicit definition of �unemployed� (essentially unemployed and currently looking for full time employment) leaving many workers to be considered effectively �on the margin� either employed in part time work when full time is preferred or simply unemployed and no longer looking for work.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics considers �marginally attached� workers (including discouraged workers) and persons who have settled for part time employment to be �underutilized� labor.
The broadest view of unemployment would include both traditionally unemployed workers and all other underutilized workers.
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