Employment & Unemployment in South Carolina (Columbia: calculated, statistics, required)

[JS1]

Originally Posted by Akhenaton06

There are more people employed than are unemployed in NYC. Being unemployed is the "exception," although certainly more common now than a few years ago. Having a job is still the "rule."

If the unemployment rate were more than 50%, the political and financial system in this country would crash and we would be in anarchy or pretty close to it.

[JS1]

Originally Posted by Skyliner

Absolutely. Once that person has become a resident citizen of the state, his or her employment status is counted unless they have given up the search.

I have a difficult time understanding someone's argument that a higher unemployment percentage in one state equates to a worse situation overall in that state than one with a statistically higher total number of residents looking for employment. I consider the actual number of unemployed adults to be very serious in most states regardless of the percentage (which is not drastically different anyway). For example, you can leave SC's slightly higher percentage of unemployment for NY and still find a shrinking economy with many, many more people looking for work. Yes, NY has a larger economy with a larger workforce, but employment is not easily found there either, especially considering the much greater number of people looking for work. To make matters worse, the cost of living is considerably higher overall in NY than in SC.

That makes no sense.

SC population = 4 million, of which 400,000 are out of work.

U.S. population = 300 million, of which 30 million are out of work.

Saying that the U.S. as a nation is 75 times worse off than the state of South Carolina is nonsense. SC is part of the U.S., so why would SC be so much better off just because its share of the U.S. population is small?

Put another way, if a small town in SC has a population of 1,000 and 400 people are out of work, does that mean the unemployment situation in that town is way better than Greenville, since Greenville has many times more than 400 people out of work? Of course not! 400 out of 1,000 being out of work is a back-breaking 40% unemployment rate. 40% unemployment will result in the town going bankrupt and being dissolved out of existence if there isn't any funding from elsewhere (the state or the feds).

[CarolinaWoman]

Originally Posted by JS1

Not true, unemployment rate is the number of people looking for work divided by the total number of people in the labor force, which is people who are either employed or looking for work. It is not the % of the population that is collecting unemployment.

You don't qualify for unemployment if you resign or are fired for cause, but you're still part of the unemployment rate.

Sorry but you are wrong ... the number of people drawing unemployment benefits through their local state employment security commission is the number that is turned in each month to arrive at the the total state and then national unemployment percentages.

Once an individual exhausts their benefits ... all gone ... no money coming in ... no signing up each week with the Employment Security Commission there is no record maintained by the Employment Security Commissions on these people. That is the only way a county, state or the Feds can maintain their records ... based on individuals drawing benefits ... or in their system appealing their termination or resignation.

If a person resigned or is terminated if they sign up in hopes of drawing benefits they will be included in the numbers. Fighting with appeals over the termination or their leaving the job could take weeks and they could end up with benefits depending on how the appeals come out ... they would be in the system at that time but once you are out of the Employment Security's system you are no longer included in the number (%) ... the county, state or Feds don't exactly go door to door and asked people are you unemployed?

[JS1]

Nope, that is wrong. Show me a government document that says what you are saying.

Of course they don't go door to door. They pick people at random and do a survey.

[CarolinaWoman]

Originally Posted by JS1

Nope, that is wrong. Show me a government document that says what you are saying.

Of course they don't go door to door. They pick people at random and do a survey.

OK JS1 ... please forgive me you are correct, I contacted the Bureau of Labor Statistics and a nice economist answered my questions ... he explained how the BLS arrived at the national unemployment rate ... a monthly survey of some 60,000 households that is conducted by the Census Bureau for the Bureau of Labor Statistics. This method has been in place since 1940.

Also "The Census Bureau does not regularly ask about receipt of unemployment insurance compensation, as it has no bearing on the definition of unemployment.

Of course I was nice, but did not agree with the method they use ... they survey 60,000 households monthly out of our millions of households and arrived at a realistic unemployment rate of 10.2%! How can 60,000 households determine that is beyond me.

I bet people drawing unemployment benefits would have a different opinion of the statement "that those receiving unemployment compensation has no bearing on the definition of unemployment."

As for South Carolina each Employment Security Commissions location is online with Columbia and those numbers are available, actual head count of those drawing benefits ... of course those that have exhausted their benefits are not included ... the individuals with appeals pending would be included (terminated or resigned.)

[pburgess68]

Originally Posted by CarolinaWoman

I bet people drawing unemployment benefits would have a different opinion of the statement "that those receiving unemployment compensation has no bearing on the definition of unemployment."

As for South Carolina each Employment Security Commissions location is online with Columbia and those numbers are available, actual head count of those drawing benefits ... of course those that have exhausted their benefits are not included ... the individuals with appeals pending would be included (terminated or resigned.)

I agree. I've been out of work for 2 years. No sign of improvement on the horizon. Those of us that have exhausted our benefits can't possibly be added to the unemployment rate because they don't KNOW about us, we just drop off the radar.

I'm guessing the overall unemployment in the US in general is much higher than they claim, and in SC I'd wager it's significantly higher than the posted amount, based on what you said about the SEC.

What imbocile claims we are out of the recession? Oh yeah...I remember who said it now.

[Akhenaton06]

Originally Posted by pburgess68

What imbocile claims we are out of the recession? Oh yeah...I remember who said it now.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said it.

[CarolinaWoman]

Originally Posted by pburgess68

I agree. I've been out of work for 2 years. No sign of improvement on the horizon. Those of us that have exhausted our benefits can't possibly be added to the unemployment rate because they don't KNOW about us, we just drop off the radar.

I'm guessing the overall unemployment in the US in general is much higher than they claim, and in SC I'd wager it's significantly higher than the posted amount, based on what you said about the SEC.

What imbocile claims we are out of the recession? Oh yeah...I remember who said it now.

You are right Pburgess ... I received an email today from the economist to further clarify:

"It is true that there are about 60,000 households in the sample for this survey. This translates into approximately 110,000 individuals, a large sample compared to public opinion surveys which usually cover fewer than 2,000 people."

The population of the USA is over 3 hundred million people and 60,000 households even with 110,000 people in them is not a true picture. The economist advised I could request a report that focuses on individual states. I have requested a report for South Carolina, we will be fortunate if just one of the 60,000 households surveyed is located in South Carolina.

[CarolinaWoman]

Originally Posted by Akhenaton06

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said it.

Awwww he just said that in hopes retailers will have a good Black Friday. But retailers are jumping on the bandwagon early with special deals prior to the day after Thanksgiving .... who in the world named that Black Friday. I know what it means ... retailer in the black instead of in the red. :smack

[NewYorkBorn]

Originally Posted by CarolinaWoman

Awwww he just said that in hopes retailers will have a good Black Friday. But retailers are jumping on the bandwagon early with special deals prior to the day after Thanksgiving .... who in the world named that Black Friday. I know what it means ... retailer in the black instead of in the red. :smack

Exactly! They know that people are living in fear in this country and as long as there is fear about the economy people will not spend money. So they tell us what they know we want to hear in the hopes that we will go out and spend like we were before this recession begin. Right now as things stand there are two categories of people.......those that have already been laid off ( still looking for work and have already given up looking for work) and those who go to work everyday in fear that they may be the next person to be laid off! For the month of October employers in the US laid off 190,000 people. Some say this is an improvement from the 263,000 people that had been laid off in months before. Until we stabilize the economy to the point were such a massive number of people are not losing their jobs and begin heading in the direction of recovery by creating new jobs we are still not out of this recesssion by a long shot.