Via WaPo: 34.5 percent of young African American men are unemployed.
Glen Ford over at BAR has a good post skewering the Obama Administration's indifference to serious attempts to confront this trend.
Showing posts with label unemployment. Show all posts
Showing posts with label unemployment. Show all posts
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
More than 1/3 of Young Black Men Unemployed
Friday, July 3, 2009
U.S. Unemployment Reaches 9.5 Percent
That's almost one in ten Americans who are unemployed. Nationally, another half a million jobs were cut in June. There really isn't anyone untouched by this recession. Anyone I speak to can list the people close to them who have lost their jobs, those who have taken pay cuts, those who have taken cuts to their benefits (That's me. I now have to pay half of my premium, which is really nothing compared to what people are facing when they lose their employer benefits altogether, but it does end up being a significant difference in your monthly take-home, and is even a greater difference for those who have to insure their partners and children in addition to themselves.)
This was the facebook status of a married friend of mine today:
14 applications and temporary insurance later, I've got my fingers crossed that we get accepted by at least one provider.
Pretty difficult to feel that glow of American pride this weekend when this country has failed us so thoroughly in providing basic healthcare to all of its citizens. Think how much less devastating this unemployment surge would be if we all had the comfort that we could have the care we needed, employed or not.
Thursday, January 15, 2009
*sigh* Feministing...
Courtney Martin has a "Thank you Thursday" post exploring the "silver lining" of the recession. One of the plus-sides she has found is mostly offensive because it comes straight out of la-la land:
3. Thank you for the innumerable people who will be forced out of jobs that didn't fulfill them and inspired to creatively reinvent their lives so that, ultimately, they can be happier and contribute more to the world.Seriously? She knows of "innumerable" people who have been so blessed by this recession that they're now in a better job than they were before? A few other commenters and I pointed out that this suggestion might be a little insensitive, and I also chastised her a bit for always acting like every little suggestion that she might be privileged or tactless is tainting the feminist harmony pool or something.
On the plus side, her Not Oprah's Book Club book of the day, which is about Oprah's role as a neoliberalist, sounds fascinating. I guess it can be kind of a crap shoot trying to find worthwhile stuff over there lately.
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