Bear with me. Stay the course and read this post in its entirety. Most of the information is not happy, but it is reality. There is a perspective at the end, I believe is worth adjusting your focus to.
The jobless rate for September just came out. The expectation was that the unemployment figures would rise from 9.7% to 9.8% and
this expectation was realized.
According to MSNBC, many analysts believe the economy grew at a healthy clip, ending the recession. This is ridiculous.
The growth in GDP was primarily spurred by the federal government’s Cash for Clunkers initiative, which in my opinion, simply delayed the inevitable. This created a false uptick in the economy because this “growth” will not be sustained as the program came to a recent end and mainly consumed existing inventory.
It is no surprise that the American automotive industry is in terrible financial shape. The jobs that were salvaged through this program, in my opinion, will be lost as the true demand for new cars continues to decline.
Will our economy continue to worsen? Unfortunately, yes. Here are a couple of related unemployment figures to digest. 7.2 million jobs have been lost since December of 2007. 15.1 million Americans are currently out of work.
There is worse news. Unemployment figures only include those folks who are currently collecting unemployment insurance benefits. These figures do not include those folks who have taken part time jobs, nor does it include those that have exhausted their benefits. Finally, it does not include those contract employees/self employed professionals who are not eligible to collect unemployment. Leading economists believe that the true unemployment rate is closer to an eye-popping 17%.
Every sector, shed jobs last month, including government which jettisoned 53,000 positions which increased the unemployment figures reported today. Our nation has seen 21 consecutive months of job losses. That is the most consecutive stretch since the great depression. The economic outlook for our nation is troubling, at least in the short term. Activities such as consumer spending and capital investments effect healthy job growth and sustainability. Consider a couple of these indicators.
Consumer spending is down dramatically as household income has been severely impacted by job loss. The fear of continued job insecurity will mean less consumer spending. This translates to less seasonal job openings as retailers will be cautious of adding too much inventory and possible unnecessary labor.
Capital investments are down because the financial sector is not lending any money. Without the flow of credit, businesses are unable to make improvements, expand and add jobs.
There is no question that the unemployment figures are uninspiring. The bigger question is when will we emerge from this? No economic policymakers have any real idea of when the economy will improve.
No policymaker or economist can give us a definitive timeline because seeing into the future isn’t possible. Instead, let’s focus on now; focus on today. Despite the unemployment figures jobs are available. Some people are retiring or choosing to leave employment on their own terms and for their own reasons. Many of these positions are being filled. Some businesses are growing. Yes, the competition is more robust. Yes, you have to work harder to stand out from the crowd. And yes, you need a plan.
Take a look some of the other posts on this site to discover what tactics you might use for forming and executing your plan. I think you’ll find these resources valuable and worth your time to explore
