A recent household survey completed by a US government agency has produced some rather grim looking statistics, indicating that the employment, or unemployment, situation in the States has seen little change for the better in May.
This has dashed widespread hopes of an imminent up-swing in the country's economy, although one could argue that no apparent change for the worse could be interpreted as a good sign.
As it stands, splitting these statistics into the main groups of individuals potentially available for work indicates the following unemployment rates per group:
Adult males - 8.9 per cent
Adult females - 8.0 per cent
Teenagers - 24.2 per cent
White population - 8.0 per cent
Black population - 16.2 per cent
Hispanic population - 11.9 per cent
Asian population - 7.0 per cent
The US has a total potential labour force of 153.7 million people, also remaining effectively unchanged during May. At the present unemployment rate of 9.1 per cent, this means that a staggering 13.9 million individuals are currently unemployed.
Considering that the hope was to reduce the unemployment rate to six per cent by April, this paints a rather bleak picture, especially as the period for which unemployment benefits are paid out by the state has now been reduced to 26 weeks for new claimants.
The number of individuals out of work for more than 27 weeks has now risen by 361,000 to a total of 6.2 million, taking a share of 45.1 per cent, almost half, of the total unemployment figure.
Although existing claimants are still able to claim for more than 26 weeks for at least a while, periods of payment have been reduced drastically.
If the situation continues, heaven only knows where this will leave the many unfortunates unable to find work before their unemployment benefits stop.
This has dashed widespread hopes of an imminent up-swing in the country's economy, although one could argue that no apparent change for the worse could be interpreted as a good sign.
As it stands, splitting these statistics into the main groups of individuals potentially available for work indicates the following unemployment rates per group:
Adult males - 8.9 per cent
Adult females - 8.0 per cent
Teenagers - 24.2 per cent
White population - 8.0 per cent
Black population - 16.2 per cent
Hispanic population - 11.9 per cent
Asian population - 7.0 per cent
The US has a total potential labour force of 153.7 million people, also remaining effectively unchanged during May. At the present unemployment rate of 9.1 per cent, this means that a staggering 13.9 million individuals are currently unemployed.
Considering that the hope was to reduce the unemployment rate to six per cent by April, this paints a rather bleak picture, especially as the period for which unemployment benefits are paid out by the state has now been reduced to 26 weeks for new claimants.
The number of individuals out of work for more than 27 weeks has now risen by 361,000 to a total of 6.2 million, taking a share of 45.1 per cent, almost half, of the total unemployment figure.
Although existing claimants are still able to claim for more than 26 weeks for at least a while, periods of payment have been reduced drastically.
If the situation continues, heaven only knows where this will leave the many unfortunates unable to find work before their unemployment benefits stop.
