Children's Defense Fund Says Todays Employment Figures Show Worst January in a Decade

2/6/2004

From: John Norton of Children's Defense Fund, 202-662-3609

WASHINGTON, Feb. 6 -- The Children's Defense Fund (CDF) reacted to today's Labor Department report on employment, saying the increase in jobs in the last month or two is a drop in the bucket compared to the overall number of jobs lost in the last few years, especially when adjusted for ordinary growth in population. Moreover, the growth in long-term unemployment, CDF said, shows more clearly than ever why Congress should immediately extend the temporary unemployment benefits that expired in December.

To put the job growth numbers into perspective, the 112,000 jobs added in January left the number of jobs barely 6,000 higher than a year ago. Based on data posted this morning on the Labor Department website, CDF noted that:

-- The average jobless worker has been unemployed for 19 weeks, longer than in any January since 1984 -- and the second-longest for any January since these records began in 1948.

-- 1.99 million workers have been unemployed for longer than six months (26 weeks) -- the most for any January since 1993.

-- Adjusted for normal seasonal variation, the Labor Department estimates that the number of these long-term unemployed edged up slightly (by 8,000 workers) from December to January.

Earlier this week the U.S. House of Representatives passed an amendment authorizing an extension of the Temporary Emergency Unemployment Compensation (TEUC) program, which expired in December. The measure must also be approved by the Senate and funds approved by both houses in order to provide assistance to working families and their children.

"The job situation is still so bad in much of the country that a lot of families could literally use an unemployment benefit extension to help feed their children," said Arloc Sherman, senior research associate at CDF. "The official unemployment rate is going down, but part of that is because a lot of people have given up looking for work."

CDF also noted other signs the employment situation is unusually bad compared with past Januarys:

-- Only 61.6 percent of Americans had work in January - marking the worst employment rate for any January since 1994. Although the number of jobs is higher than in previous Januarys, the rise in the employment level was not enough to offset the increase in the overall population.

-- The percentage of high school graduates and college graduates with jobs has never been lower in any January since the federal government began keeping records in 1992. (Among high school graduates with no college degree, the seasonally adjusted figures have never been lower in any month since 1992.)

-- Although the number of unemployed workers declined by 251,000 since last January, the decline stemmed in large part from the growing number of "discouraged workers" who have given up actively looking for work. This group grew by 134,000 since January 2003.

For women, the recent employment news has been especially bad, CDF noted. Seasonally adjusted, the percentage of women working in the economy stands at its lowest since February 1996. CDF said that many families with children rely on women's paychecks to keep the family out of poverty. (Unless noted, the figures in this analysis are not seasonally adjusted.)

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The mission of the Children's Defense Fund is to Leave No Child Behind(r) and to ensure every child a Healthy Start, a Head Start, a Fair Start, a Safe Start, and a Moral Start in life and successful passage to adulthood with the help of caring families and communities.