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"DENVER — The slowest economic recovery since World War II is going especially slow for sections of Colorado, according to a letter from the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment (CDLE) obtained by The Colorado Observer.
In seven counties in Colorado unemployed individuals are close to or exceeding 20% of the population, a letter from the Chief Economist of CDLE to the U.S. Department of Agriculture says."
(Emphasis mine.)
Wow. These numbers are staggering. It's very, very sad.
Which Counties are involved and what was their economic base?
That's the thing- when you live in the middle of nowhere, where there are no jobs to be had regardless of the economy, why are you shocked with the unemployment rate is high?
Costilla County, the one with the highest unemployment in the article, is a 1,200 square mile area near the New Mexico border, with a population of 3,300 people and a median household income of less that $20k. Gee, I wonder why people can't find jobs there??
That situation is shared by many rural locations in this and many other countries. Even modern farming, with its emphasis on high production machinery, does not create enough jobs to employ the residents. Thus we have suburban concentrations of both people and jobs both industrial and clerical. Some though that post modern communications would allow intellectual and clerical work to be done from remote rural locations but managerial insecurity requires the workers to be physically available to be bossed. Unfortunately post modern communications (cell phones and Internet) are not available in many rural areas because installing the infrastructure is not profitable. Maybe we need a RCA (Rural Communications Administration) to make these installations so all of our citizen’s have access to the post modern world.
That situation is shared by many rural locations in this and many other countries. Even modern farming, with its emphasis on high production machinery, does not create enough jobs to employ the residents. Thus we have suburban concentrations of both people and jobs both industrial and clerical. Some though that post modern communications would allow intellectual and clerical work to be done from remote rural locations but managerial insecurity requires the workers to be physically available to be bossed. Unfortunately post modern communications (cell phones and Internet) are not available in many rural areas because installing the infrastructure is not profitable. Maybe we need a RCA (Rural Communications Administration) to make these installations so all of our citizen’s have access to the post modern world.
I imagine the US Department of Labor will be called in to work out the numbers to a more palatable and acceptable total. They seem to do a pretty good job of keeping UE numbers close to 8% so they can doctor them in time for the election.
As for the rural areas not having cell phone access, just last week a representative of Verizon told me that even in our rural areas the necessary towers have been built. I don't believe him but they do have pretty good reception out here in the sticks.
I imagine the US Department of Labor will be called in to work out the numbers to a more palatable and acceptable total. They seem to do a pretty good job of keeping UE numbers close to 8% so they can doctor them in time for the election.
Yeah, your nutjob conspiracy theory makes much more sense than the preceding post
I came across this article a couple of days ago. It explains what the REAL unemployment percentage is where everything is considered and who is considered and how the government calculates "unemployed".
Excerpt:
Quote:
These are marginal negative movements, but they underline that the recovery touted by the administration has been the weakest in modern history. Nobody is entitled to blow a trumpet because the unemployment rate for August can be headlined at 8.1 percent, down two digits from July's 8.3 percent. That's a drop brought about not by more jobs but because 360,000 people left the workforce. It muffles the fact that 5 million people have now been out of work for 27 weeks or more. That's roughly 40 percent of the unemployed. Another 2.6 million people were marginally attached to the labor force, and over eight million people have given up looking for a job, so they are not counted because they had not searched for work in the prior month.
A reality check is offered by the unemployment numbers the government calls U-6. It measures people who have applied for a job in the last six months and also includes people who are involuntary part-time workers—government-speak for people whose jobs have been cut back to two or three days a week or who are working part-time because they have been unable to find a full-time job. That number is almost 15 percent. Include the eight million people who have simply given up looking for a job and the real unemployment rate is closer to 18 or 19 percent. These are the brutal facts behind the Census report on median income. It is no surprise when annual wage increases have dropped to an average of 1.6 percent, the lowest in the past 30 years.
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