This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon, Nov. 2, 2011 - Nearly one-third of the nation's 14 million unemployed have been out of work for a year or longer, according to researchers from the Pew Fiscal Analysis Initiative.
Using data from the U.S. Department of Labor, the Congressional Budget Office and the U.S. Census Bureau, the analysts found that long-term joblessness continues to plague the U.S. economy in the third quarter of 2011 -- three years since the financial crisis of 2008 and two years since economists say the Great Recession officially ended.
Here are their findings from the third quarter of 2011 (July to September):
- 31.8 percent of the unemployed have been jobless for more than a year -- about 4.4 million Americans. Picture the entire population of the state of Louisiana.
- The percentage of the long-term unemployed has nearly doubled since the same time period in 2009, when it was 16 percent.
- Long-term unemployment cuts across age groups, but the jobless who are older than 55 are most likely to be out of work for a year or longer.
- The financial toll on taxpayers is growing also: Federal spending on unemployed benefits is projected to reach $120 billion in 2011.
- More than one-fifth of the jobless in every U.S. industry had been out of work for a year or longer. The percentage was over 40 percent for workers in mining, manufacturing, transportation, utilities and financial activities.
- The researchers found that workers with higher levels of education are less likely to lose their jobs initally, but their education doesn't necessarily speed their re-employment: 34 percent of the jobless with bachelor's degrees have been out of work for more than a year. That compares to 38 percent of high school graduates and 39 percent of high school dropouts.
