Ooph. This morning's unemployment data is anything but rosy. The Labor Department reports that September's 9.8-percent unemployment rate is the highest since June 1983. That drove down payrolls for the 21st consecutive month. (Today's L.A. Times has a good write-up on the topic.) And that doesn't even count the layoffs that will come from the ironic demise of the Saturn auto lines.
It's even worse for people in construction, where unemployment to a whopping 17.1 percent. The Associated General Contractors of America, an industry trade group, estimates that 80 percent of those losses occurred in nonresidential construction.
“The housing industry may be stabilizing, but the broader construction crisis is only getting worse,” said Ken Simonson, chief economist for the Associated General Contractors of America. “While the stimulus is helping slow the decline, it’s clearly far from enough to reverse sweeping industry-wide layoffs on its own.”
You can see why AGC unveiled its own recovery plan earlier this week. Here's my report for Architect magazine. Here at the Factory, we feel this one fairly acutely. We do a lot of work for Architect and Developer magazines, both of which cover this struggling industry one way or another.
Even though the number of jobs lost each month is getting smaller, which is sort of a good sign, the overall number of unemployed people continues to grow.
We can't do much here at The Word Factory to stimulate the economy. But we have done a lot of reporting on unemployment and job-seeking. Here are some of those resources for those of you needing assistance:
● Tips for continuing folks looking for work -- and looking for love
● Managing the job application "black hole"
● Being proactive, not desperate
● Social media tips and techniques for job seekers
● When you don't have the required skills, but you do have commensurate experience