In a bizarre bit of bureaucracy, unemployment figures in the US do not count the long term unemployed and the people so disillusioned that they’ve given up. Unemployment is down. Yay. Long term unemployment is down, too; but at least 2.7 million people are out of work and uncounted. Besides the loss in productivity, being poor raises the country’s overall costs because the longer a person is out of work the less likely they’ve been able to take care of themselves and the higher the cost of things like subsequent health care.
“What 27 Weeks Of Unemployment Does To The American Worker” – The Atlantic
Pretending Not To Panic 