Jobs Crisis Fact Sheet

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http://www.epi.org/publications/entry/jobs_crisis_fact_sheet/#When:16:52:19Z

By Anna Turner,
December 4, 2009

(Note that all numbers are current as of December 4, 2009. States numbers are current as of November 20, 2009.)

The jobs crisis

* Number unemployed: 15.4 million (up from 7.5 million in December 2007)
* Portion of unemployed who have been jobless more than six months: 38.3%
* Total jobs lost during the recession: 8.0 million
* Jobs lost in November, 2009: 11,000
* Jobs needed to return to pre-recession unemployment rate: 10.9 million
* Number of jobseekers per job opening: 6.3
* Unemployment rate: 10.0%
* Underemployment rate: 17.2%; Share of workers un- or underemployed: more than 1 in 6
* Under- and unemployed, marginally attached and involuntary part-time workers: 26.9 million

Hardships and the safety net

* Americans with no health insurance in 2008: 46.3 million
* Drop in children covered through parents’ employers, 2000 to 2007: 3.4 million
* Annual Social Security benefit for average retiree: $13,922; Share of older Americans receiving all their income from Social Security: more than 1 out of 4
* Number of children in poverty in 2008: 14.1 million (over one-third)
* Drop in real median income from 2007 to 2008: 3.6% (largest one-year drop since 1967)
* Growth rate of nominal, hourly wages of production workers over the last three months: 1.7%
* Additional people covered by Medicaid/SCHIP in 2008: 3 million


American Recovery and Reinvestment Act

* Average weekly unemployment benefit in October (including additional $25 per week from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act): $334
* Number of additional people each week receiving unemployment compensation because of ARRA in October: 3.9 million
* Average monthly cost of COBRA with American Recovery and Reinvestment Act subsidy: $370; Without American Recovery and Reinvestment Act subsidy: $1,057
* Jobs lost since February 2008: 2.7 million ; Jobs likely lost since February 2008 without passage of ARRA: 4.0 to 4.5 million