Jobs - A Sad State of Affairs

At foxnews.com, under the 'Politics' tab, there is an ominous headline,"Number of long-term unemployed ‘unprecedented’ under Obama." The story, published by the Washington Free Beacon, puts an exclamation point on the unemployment picture in this country. While the economy in

some quarters seems to be improving, the jobless rate is a sad commentary on the failures of the Obama administration. Unemployment is at a stagnant 7.4%, a government stat that is false at best because it doesn't take into account the millions who are unemployed and have given up looking, thus the real rate might be closer to 14%.

Another number rarely mentioned is the long-term unemployed, said to be those that have been out of work for 
for more than six months. These people total 3% of the unemployment rate. A study by the Urban Institute, a liberal think-tank, does not bode well for the administration, citing some 5 million workers fall into the long term unemployed category. The Washington Free Beacon quotes from the study,

"That long-term unemployment would rise during a recession is not at all surprising, but the extent of the increase and its persistently high level since the start of the recovery are both troubling and unprecedented. The U.S. economy is now well into its fourth year of recovery, the unemployment rate is below 8 percent, yet the long-term share of unemployment is still near 40 percent."

President Obama has consistently said his top priorities are helping the middle class and jobs, jobs jobs. But his record over the last four plus years indicate those priorities have

Michael R. Strain

been nothing more than lip service. Michael Strain, resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, (aei.org) says the president isn't taking the jobless plights of Americans seriously. Read More: Obama Ignoring Job Problem

Would it be stretch to think that if Mr. Strain is correct it

might be because the less people working the more they will become dependent on the government, which is Obama's mindset? If that be true, it is, indeed, a sad state of affairs.





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