What Employment Says About the Economy
Increasingly Complex Conditions Call for Closer Look at Jobs Data During the first half of 2008, as the national unemployment rate stayed fairly steady, economists focused on a lesser-known aspect of the employment situation: people out of work for more than six months. The number of people in this situation grew at the fastest rate (on a year-over-year basis) since February 2003. Although the percentage of long-term unemployed has been much higher and much more serious in the past, the growth rate was sharp enough to attract attention. It’s a reminder that as important as the national unemployment rate is,…