Pew has put together five charts looking at the long-term unemployed. They’re all pretty incredible/scary, but this one really stands out, I think:
And here is some context:
The Great Recession and its aftermath saw a significant increase in the percentage of layoffs that were permanent as opposed to temporary. The percentage of jobless workers on permanent layoffs peaked in the fourth quarter of 2009 at about 54 percent. In the same quarter, individuals on temporary layoffs (unemployed individuals who were expecting to return to work for the same employer) made up about 10 percent of the unemployed. Both percentages have declined since this peak.
By contrast, during the downturn of the early 1980s, the average quarterly percentage of the unemployed who were on temporary layoffs was about 20 percent, while those on permanent layoffs comprised approximately 38 percent. Some of this shift could be attributed to the long-term decline in employment in manufacturing industries, as compared to other industries. In times of recession, the manufacturing industry generally has more temporary layoffs as workers are called back to their plants once production picks up. However, the last two recessions have hit manufacturing especially hard, and many of the manufacturing jobs that were lost have not returned.
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Hi James – Wow. Like you said, “incredible/scary” graph. I work for a flange manufacturer here in Houston. Manufacturing is so important to our US and global economies. “Many of the manufacturing jobs that were lost have not returned” – it is definitely a difficult time for the industry, it’ll be interesting to see what happens in the future.
Anyhow, thanks for sharing! – Aly