The unemployment rate is about double that figure, with various experts providing a range between 13% and 16%.  Read on.

The report below is based on the ADP reports for job growth, or not . . .  Make sure to see the red and green graphic down the page a bit, “ADP Employment Change” (the recent change is negative).  While there is job growth in areas, look at the bottom of the info-graphic at the bottom of the article.  The average number of jobs in April was less than the previous five months.  Good jobs in manufacturing went DOWN, not up.

LINK:  ADP Private Jobs Plunge, Miss; Fall For Fifth Month In A Row

And get this:

LINK:  Dark side to jobs report: Big drop in hours worked; Commentary: Shorter work week equivalent to 500,000 jobs lost

Are you tired yet of the media providing a false and rosy picture of employment in this country?  What reason do they have to do so?  How can providing only part of the employment/unemployment picture help anyone – the government policy makers, business people, the unemployed?  While the author the article in the above link cautions that the data is only for one month and may not represent a long-term trend (still, that’s an awful lot of “jobs lost” not being reported), coupled with the ADP information in the first link, it isn’t encouraging.  It also confirms what so many employees are saying – they are given too few hours to work.

The video and transcript linked below gives actual, real-world evidence of the ridiculous time older people are having getting jobs (how they’re spending all their retirement, living off of aid, being forced into signing unlawful lay-off agreements, etc.).  Many were laid-off when the depression started.  I’m tired at this point of business people blaming others out there for out-sourcing jobs and therefore making it not competitive to pay Americans decent wages, or even hiring Americans at all, and things of this nature.  It’s business people that did all this – out-sourcing, laying off older workers because they have a higher pay rate and may cost more in health care, etc.  Not all business people have done these things, but it doesn’t matter much after our country and so many of its people are run into the ground.

Ethical business people should know about the applicable laws and regulations more than the average person, so they would be the best advocates for changes in the laws, tax structures, etc.  Many business people used to realize that employing people full-time and with decent pay made the whole community, and country, better.  Now it seems like only few do.  It’s like money is all that matters and that somehow they can take it to the grave with them – the future for everyone else is of no consequence.

As stated in the interview, the unemployment rate is closer to 16%.  This corresponds to Keith Hall’s testimony to the (US) Joint Economic Committee:  “Their data shows that American households now have an unprecedented dependence on these government programs. A remarkable 17.2% of total household income now comes from government social benefits, and such spending tracks pretty closely to the jobless rate (the share of the working age population without employment) . . .”

LINK:  Brutal Job Search Reality for Older Americans Out of Work for Six Months or More

For continually updated information on lay-offs and business closings, and links to pertinent articles (including where and how to get jobs), see DailyJobCuts.com.