Huh? How can this be?

In the U.S. today we have a surplus of job seekers and a shortage of workplace opportunities. Employers want people with training, education and experience, but once you’re actually hired such qualities are not enough, you need something more, you need to be aware of tribal customs. If you do not learn your employer’s tribal customs you will be fired as soon as possible.

What do I mean by tribal customs? I mean the unspoken traditions and standards that employers and other workers expect from the “new person” — that’s you.

When you get a job you’re not a member of the tribe. Yet. There’s more to be done. The problem is that tribal customs often take the form of expectations which are not precise, not verbalized and not explained. You have to figure this stuff out for yourself because every workplace is different.

Here are some basic issues to consider:

Timing

If the job starts a 9 AM the employer expects you to be there and ready to work at 9AM. Not 9:01. Not taking off your coat. Not getting coffee.

Tribal Custom: Always get to your workplace a touch early. Never leave before other workers, even if the day is done. The employer does not want to worry about empty seats, blank computer screens and missing crew members.

Tasks

No matter what you’re asked to do, there’s a way to do it that meets the employer’s requirements. If the process has six steps do not complete the task with five.

Tribal Custom: The employer sets the standard for workmanship, service, productivity, timing and quality. The employer does not want to worry that the new person doesn’t get it, refuses to follow the system or has a “better” system. Especially at first, follow the employer’s system exactly and precisely as the employer wants. Later on, when you earn the trust of your employer and co-workers, you can suggest alternatives.

Criticism

You may be asked “so what do you think about new design?” or “what do you think of our system?” Do NOT criticize the system. Instead, say that it’s really impressive, big, fast, proven, better than anything you’ve seen or whatever.

Tribal Custom. Such questions may simply mean the employer wants your confirmation — and maybe even applause — for his or her ideas and approaches. Egos may be involved. Remember that when you criticize a product or system that you may be speaking to the person who designed it. Since you’re the new person you don’t know enough to criticize. Learn how things work, then make suggestions.

Nature Calling

Every uses a bathroom from time to time. You will stick out like a giant red balloon if you use the facilities too often or too long unless there’s a health reason to the contrary.

Tribal Custom: Never leave a bathroom, regardless of why you went in, without washing your hand. NEVER!

Donuts

In many work environments it’s common and routine for workers to bring in donuts, candy, cakes or whatever. If that’s the practice, then make sure you contribute either financially if money is collected or through participation by bringing in goodies.

Tribal Custom: Never be a total taker, sometimes you have to give to fit in.

Ask Questions

As a newly-minted employee you have the right to ask questions. “Fred, am I doing this right?” “Mary, is this how you want this done?”

Tribal Custom: Asking questions is a way to show that you want to please others in the workplace, that you respect their judgment and opinion.

Keep Learning

Whenever you’re asked to learn something new, go for it. You’ll become more value with each new skill. After you have been with the employer a bit, see what skills you need to advance and tell the employer you want to learn.

Tribal Custom: We no longer live in a static world where the job skills you have on day one are sufficient for the rest of your career. To stay employed you must constantly be learning new things.

Computers

Any use of the employer’s computers is use of the EMPLOYER’S computer, not your computer. You have no expectation of privacy. NEVER use an employer’s computer or a company email account for any reason which would be inappropriate or uncomfortable for your, your co-workers or your organization. Don’t post negative items about your employer or co-workers on social media. If you have any doubts, just ask if you want your use of the computer on the evening news.

Tribal Custom: You wouldn’t use an employer’s van for private purposes so why would you use the employer’s computer system, or lathe, or stock of paper for your own use?

Enthusiasm

You have a job. You must act as though it’s important and valuable. Body language can send out signals no one wants to see — sighs, tilted heads, poor posture, etc. suggest no interest in the job or the people around you.

Tribal Custom: Negative non-verbal cues are often regarded as extremely disrespectful. If you signal non-interest and a lack of enthusiasm you will be fired.

Phone Manners

How one answers the phone is important. The word “hello” is not a question. Always answer with a strong, affirmative voice. If someone gives you a number to write down, write it down and then repeat it back to the caller.

Tribal Custom: Millions of people carry phones in their pocket. It’s a way to keep in touch. Make it work for you, otherwise it can lead to the loss of a job.

Yes and No

In many cases employers, managers and bosses are looking for a yes or no response to a question. They really mean that they want to hear the word “yes” or the word “no.” They do NOT want to head “yeah” or “nah.”

Tribal Custom: The issue is not the use of a given term or slang versus proper language. The issue is that words convey attitude. When employers ask a question they want to be certain that what they said was understood and that their directions and instructions are clear. A hazy response, a lackluster response, does not provide the needed — and required — level of assurance.

Thank You

Always acknowledge the help of others. It doesn’t cost a dime to say “thank you.” It’s not a hardship to say “that’s a great idea.” No one will be hurt if you say, “this is really good, thank for showing me how to do this.” A little courtesy goes a long way in the workplace.

Tribal Custom: All humans have egos, all humans like to be acknowledged. You’re not the center of the universe. Be nice to co-workers, managers and employers. As the old expression goes, it’s easier to catch flies with honey than with vinegar.

Technorati Tags: courtesy, customs, nah, no, psychic space, standards, thank you, tribal, yeah, yes

Alex Brownstein wanted an advertising job in New York. As you can guess, New York is a tough market and as companies cut back many advertise less. So what’s an ad guy to do? Resumes are nice, friends in good places are important, knocking on doors can work in some fields but why not do what companies do when they have a product or service to sell?

Why not advertise? Online? Using Google’s AdWord program? A proven and hugely successful form of marketing.

So far, so good. You get the idea that if you sell muffins your ad should come up when someone is looking for, well, muffins. What Brownstein did was to get the names of leading ad agency executives. Those names became his keywords. And, if it happens that an executive searches for himself or herself on Google, or perhaps someone who works for the exec, then guess which ad comes up?

What To Say

One Brownstein ad read this way for an ad exec named Ian Reichenthal:

The ad, of course, included a link to Brownstein’s website.

Brownstein reports that he posted ads for five executives and the results were that four called for a job interview, two offered him a job and he accepted one of the jobs that was offered.

How You Can Use The Same Idea

To use the Brownstein strategy you first need a credible website. It need not be fancy or complex, but it should be a site which is suitable for jobs and employment, something that showcases you in the best possible light. One approach, without cost, would be to set up a free blog with WordPress or Blogger. Search around for a good theme, check your spelling and include your resume.

Or, if you want something unique, build a site such as ChefsOnTheRoad.com.

Also, if you’re looking for one branch of a company in a particular area it may make sense to localize your ad for a given state, county or city.

A clever, innovative web presence can’t possibly hurt your job efforts. The cost might be about the expense of a fast-food dinner, but somehow the results are likely to be far more satisfying.

Technorati Tags: ad, AdWords, Google, job, marketing

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Technorati Tags: benefits, cover letter, discrimination, electronic application, electronic resume, employment, first job, health insurance, interview, job, Money & Wages, resume, salary, wages

These are lousy numbers and lousy times for many people. The big question is this: How do you defend your interests?

10,000 Lawyers

I meet a lot of people who tell me they’re waiting for the right job or the right dollars. Good luck. In most fields those days are gone. Think about the 10,000 people who have been laid off from law firms during the past year. If attorney’s can’t work then times are really hard.

Get Work Strategies

Stop looking and start acting. No job is going to come to you in today’s environment. You have to get out there every day to check the classifieds, the online sites and the notices in local shopping centers. Speak with friends and family, folks in your field, people you know through clubs, religious congregations, school, etc.

Make Getting A Job Your Business. If you had a job you would work 9-to-5, or whatever hours are appropriate in your field. Apply the same standard to your job hunt. Make getting a job your business.

Work For Free. Someone we know worked for weeks on end in various kitchens in New York. In the restaurant world it’s called trailing and it’s a good way for would-be employees to see workplaces as they actually function — and for employers to see if someone has the skills and personality to fit. Three years later he manages a large restaurant and has an office, a staff and frequent offers to go elsewhere. If you work for a place and don’t get a job, at least you will have learned something. Look also for internships, externships, and OJT — on-the-job training.

Go Where The Jobs Are. Go to conferences, lectures and meetings where you can mingle with people in your field. Remember that a lot of jobs get filled on the basis of personal recommendations and knowing that a spot is open.

Go Where The Jobs Aren’t. Eating on a regular basis is important. If you can’t find a job in your field, look elsewhere. Be willing to work at night and on weekends. Be willing to commute. Be willing to do the dirty work. Such jobs may not be what you want but they offer two valuable benefits: They bring in dollars today and they may open up unexpected opportunities.

What about happiness? Isn’t that important. You bet. Unfortunately the economy has eroded to the point where eating on a regular basis and living indoors are concepts which need to come first. Not happy thoughts, but part of the new reality.

Lastly, always remember that you have value. Most people have gone through tough times at some point in their lives. It’s okay. Today may be hard but tomorrow is another day. Don’t give up or drop out. Start somewhere, even if starting somewhere is not what you want.

Technorati Tags: employment, job, strategies

There is some truth to these claims. The Internet has made the process of finding a job very much faster and easier than in the past if only because so many options are available. That said, going online to find a job is not a sure thing, as a job seeker you have to do your part.

Setting The Right Criteria

The first step toward successful online job hunting is to figure out what you really want to do. What is the right job description? What are the buzz words that an employer would use to find someone like you?

Next, what about a job title? What do we call people who do what you do? This is important because we pay people differing amounts depending on their titles, even though their actual job skills and responsibilities may not be much different or different at all. The classic example concerns people who want to be freelance writers, technical writers and consultants. These are terms without any standard definition, but it’s likely that the freelance writer is paid least.

Is there a company that’s especially attractive to you? Because of the work it does, the location, folks who work there, the pay scale, benefits? If you have a particular company in mind you might want to check their website to see if they have an online job application.

Location is a key issue. Long commutes are tiring and can be expensive in terms of gasoline, fares and tolls. There’s a real value in “living above the store” — or as close to it as possible.

If you can telecommute then location because an issue in a different sense: If you can work by wire then by all means work where you want — the city, the country, the mountains, by the sea, whatever.

Pay, of course, is crucial. You want what you’re worth. Notice that what you “need” does not concern employers. What’s important to them is to get the best possible person for the least number of dollars.

In addition, you want benefits. The most-important is health insurance because a trip to the hospital can cost thousands of dollars without coverage. If health coverage includes dental and optical, so much the better. Other major benefits include vacation time, life insurance, severance pay, sick leave, disability leave, personal leave and retirement contributions. If you can get all of these you’re in luck — employers have been cutting back on such benefits for the past decade, but you can still find such packages, especially in government positions.

Keywords

If you look at print newspaper classifieds you can see that they are static, arranged in a set order. If you don’t see a listing because it is filed in some obscure location, you lose. Online the deal is different, most job sites have a search function which allows you to search by keyword and location.

You can get your keywords by considering the criteria above. Try different search and see what results come up. As you do this write out the keywords in the ads which seem most attractive to what you want, then search using the revised or expanded list of terms.

Cautions

In working with job site search systems there are several limitations to consider.

First, if you put in a location does the system just bring up jobs in a particular community or ZIP code? If so you may be missing out on a job that’s 20 feet over the line in the next county and six minutes from your house. Look for systems that allow you to search not only a particular location but also jobs within a given radius.

Second, about those keywords — the more you use the smaller your list of responses. This may be good in the sense of narrowing your search to a few hits, however you may also be missing good opportunities which do not include all of your keywords. To overcome this problem conduct a number of searches, some with a few keywords and some with a longer list.

Technorati Tags: cautions, criteria, keywords, location, online, pay, search, systems, telecommute, title

Unfortunately, you’re likely to notice that even with a bigger number on your paycheck money somehow does not go as far. What you’ve seen is right — and how right you are may be surprising

Falling Wages

The Federal Reserve says between 2004 and 2007 — boom times for the American economy — that “the share of family income attributable to wages and salaries fell 5.2 percentage points.”

Huh? Wages fell? If the country was doing so well how is it possible that families were earning less?

The answer is that while the country was doing well during the past few years — at least on paper — not everyone did equally well. Indeed, many fell behind.

For instance, the IRS reports that the nation’s 400 richest taxpayers are actually getting richer. The average filer in this group earned $263,306,000 in 2006 — that’s up from a mere $74,709,000 in 1996. The percentage of all income earned by our top 400 represented 1.31 percent of the total gross income in 2006. In 1996 the top 400 filers earned .66 percent of all income.

In other words, the income of the very rich doubled relative to everyone else’s in a ten-year period.

Wage Trends

Okay, what about workers? If you look at real hourly wages — how much people earn corrected for inflation — you can see that income remains about where it was in the early 1970s, more than 30 years ago. The chart below by Stan Sorscher, which was posted originally by WashingtonPolicyWatch.org, shows how wages have fared over the years.

Economists usually say that wealth is derived from four basic sources: land, labor, capital and entrepreneurial ability. As a society during the past few decades we have come to value land (think of rising home prices), capital (think of stocks and bonds) and entrepreneurial ability (folks who start new companies). Left in the dust have been people who actually work.

• Smith makes $100,000 in profit from the sale of a prime residence owned at least two years. The federal tax? Zero. Notice that there is no Social Security tax on real estate profits.
• Jones starts the Whatever Corporation. The company develops a new way to change TV channels and gets a patent for the idea. Jones sells stock in the company 14 months after he started the firm for $100,000. His tax? Because the money is a long-term capital gain from the sale of an asset he pays 15 percent, or $15,000. Again, notice that there is no Social Security tax on capital gains profits.
• Green has worked at the North company for 15 years. By working overtime he has an adjusted gross income of $99,950. The tax? $21,971 — PLUS Social Security taxes.

What you’re seeing here demonstrates the value of lobbyists and PAC contributions. People don’t pay smaller taxes because they’re virtuous or saintly, they pay less because they have more power in Washington.

Inflation

There is little doubt that you earn more than your parents. Indeed, even if you have the same job and the same skills as your parents there’s no doubt that you are earning more — at least in cash terms.

However, the real measure of wealth is not how many dollars you have, it’s what those dollars buy. A few years ago I was in Romania and had a dinner which cost roughly 500,000 old Leu. While 500,000 is a huge number, the cost of the dinner in terms of dollar values was about $13.

We need more dollars today in part because inflation over time has made money less valuable. For instance, imagine that someone made $20,000 in 1980. Today you would have to make $51,503.16 to have equal buying power.

What To Do

Your real financial goal is not so much to have more money, though that would be nice, as it is to have more buying power. There are several steps you can take to advance your personal finances.

1. Save. You cannot buy a home or stock or anything else without savings. Moreover, you need savings if you lose a job or have a sudden expense.
2. Get as much education and training as possible — these are resources which can never be taken from you.
3. Even if it means a lower salary, look for jobs with benefits. You’ll be grateful after just one medical bill.
4. Buy a home with a fixed-rate mortgage. See if you qualify for FHA financing or, if you have military service, for a VA loan.
5. Get married. Seriously. A good marriage is one of the keys to financial success.

Technorati Tags: 30, capital gains, income, inflation, IRS, real estate, rich, stable, steady, stock, taxes, wages, years

It’s not an easy question because employment agencies offer a variety of services to a variety of job seekers and a range of businesses. Some agencies specialize in entry-level positions or in given professions. Others are generalists.

Also, of course, there is the question of whether or not you need an employment agency at all. The Internet is here and there are well-known employment sites online. Ask the agency what advantage it has over online applications. In some cases an agency may have a long-term relationship with an employer which could be beneficial, in other cases they may do little more than search the Internet for job opportunities — something you can do with little if any cost.

To see if an employment agency makes sense for you, ask these 10 questions:

1. Who is the client?

   If you’re paying the bill then you are the client and the employment agency is obligated to get the best possible job for you. However, if the employer is paying then the employment agency works for them and it’s goal is to get the best person to fit a given job — “best” may mean not only well-qualified by at the lowest cost possible.

2. What is the relationship between the agency and the employer?

   Is the agency exclusively seeking to fill a job for an employer or are 30 agencies looking for the right candidate? Has the agency previously obtained jobs from the employer? Similar jobs with other employees? Does the agency have a personal relationship with the employer or with someone at the employer?

3. Does the agency actually have the job you want?

   An employment agency’s stock and trade are the names of its business clients. You can’t expect an employment agency to give away client names but you can expect them to tell you the specifics about the job such as: What education, experience and training are required? What are the salary and benefits? Where is the general location (think of commuting)? Do you need a license or certificate? Must be you be able to be bonded and insured? What are the hours? Etc.

4. Are you the only candidate the agency is sending to the employer?

   If yes, great. If no, do they send every warm body they can locate? No, good. Then how do they decide who to send? Get a real answer. Don’t settle for generalities. Get specifics.

5. Will the agency help perfect your resume?

   This can be important in situations where the employer has a stack of applications. Not only do you want a resume geared to the specific employer, you also want an appropriate cover letter.

6. Will the agency help you prepare for a job interview?

   For instance, what are the 10 questions you are most-likely to be asked? What are the best answers? Remember, packaging and tilting your answers is important, stressing some points and not others can get you hired — or ignored.

7. What happens if you accept the job and leave a few months later?

   Are you responsible for the agency fee? What is your liability? Even if termination is required because you move? Get injured? Are fired? If you have any liability for the agency fee when does it end?

8. Is the agency state-licensed?

   State license standards vary. For example, the New York Better Business Bureau says that employment agencies in that state must have one license to charge applicants a fee but a different license if they only charge employees.

9. Is there any up-front cost for registration or for some or all of the fee?

   Some states ban upfront fees but that may not be the case everywhere. In general, up-front fees are a bad idea because you are paying for services in advance — services which may not result in a satisfactory job or in any job.

10. Will you receive a copy of the employment agency contract?

    This document should show the fee and when it is earned, due and payable. You must have a copy of this document to avoid future fee disputes.

Technorati Tags: agencies, agency, client, contract, employment, fee, liability, license

To understand what’s going on you first have to grab your very own copy of the monthly federal report issued by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. You can always get the most-recent release because the BLS uses the same link each month. Just go to the latest unemployment numbers for yourself.

For March 2009 the government says that “nonfarm payroll employment continued to decline sharply in March (-663,000), and the unemployment rate rose from 8.1 to 8.5 percent, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported today. Since the recession began in December 2007, 5.1 million jobs have been lost, with almost two-thirds (3.3 million) of the decrease occurring in the last 5 months. In March, job losses were large and widespread across the major industry sectors.”

In total, says the government, it found 13.2 million people who were unemployed, 8.5 percent of the workforce in March 2009.

The Self-Employed & Farmers

Notice that the news talks about nonfarm payroll employment. In other words, it does not include the self-employed or farmers. How big a deal is this?

• The government says that 10.4 million people are self-employed. This is equal to 6.9 percent of the 154 million people in the civilian labor force.
• Farmers about 2 percent of the population, according to the Agriculture Department. That’s equal to roughly 3.8 million workers.

In total we have 14.2 million people (10.4 million plus 3.8 million) who are not considered when unemployment numbers are tallied.

People Not In The Labor Force

Another excluded category involves persons not in the labor force.

“About 2.1 million persons (not seasonally adjusted) were marginally attached to the labor force in March,” says the BLS, “754,000 more than a year earlier. These individuals wanted and were available for work and had looked for a job sometime in the prior 12 months. They were not counted as unemployed because they had not searched for work in the 4 weeks preceding the survey.”

In other words, you have to be actively looking for a job to be counted as unemployed.

Not Looking For Work

Lastly, we come to those who are not counted because they are discouraged workers. The government says that “among the marginally attached, there were 685,000 discouraged workers in March, up by 284,000 from a year earlier. Discouraged workers are persons not currently looking for work because they believe no jobs are available for them. The other 1.4 million persons marginally attached to the labor force in March had not searched for work in the 4 weeks preceding the survey for reasons such as school attendance or family responsibilities.”

The Real Level Of Unemployment

There’s another measure which does not fit within the government standards, the under-employed. Who are these folks? In general terms the underemployed are people with jobs, but not the jobs they want and not the jobs which fully reflect their skills, experience and training.

People are often under-employed, especially when the unemployment rate rises because workers are logically concerned that if they leave their present employer they will be unable to get a replacement job with equal or better pay and benefits. The result is that they stick where they now work rather than look for a better situation.

The bottom line: Official unemployment figures tend to substantially understate actual workplace trends. For instance, in the month of March 2009 we had 13.2 million officially unemployed and 2.1 million without jobs but not included among the officially out-of-work. That’s 15.3 million people. Relative to a workforce with 154 million people that’s an unemployment rate of 9.93 percent — not counting the self-employed who have lost work, farmers who are not working and the lost economic potential of the under-employed.

Technorati Tags: BLS, Bureau, discouraged, employed, force, jobs, labor, not, official, percentage, persons, Statistics, total, under, under-employed, unemployed, workers, workforce

Can you do something to get more hours at work? For a lot of folks, the answer is going to be yes. Here’s how:

By The Numbers

Figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics show that the official unemployment level topped 8 percent in February, a rate likely to go higher.

Meanwhile, for those who have jobs, the news is also bleak. The BLS reports that of this writing a typical private-sector employee saw the usual workweek contract from 33.6 hours the third quarter of 2008 to 33.3 hours in February 2009. Seemingly not a big deal, however overtime fell from 3.6 hours per week to 2.6 hours. If one hour of overtime is paid on the basis of time-and-a-half, then at $18.47 per hour — the typical wage — our model worker is out $27.70. (3.6 hours less 2.6 hours = 1 hour. 1 hour at $18.47 x 1.5 = $27.70).

Over a one-year period, that’s $1,440.40.

What Not To Say

With companies reducing both jobs and hours, it may see as though it would be impossible to get more time and thus more income. In some cases that’s certainly true, but in many situations there is some flexibility. While employers would generally prefer not to pay overtime, with fewer workers overtime is actually cheap when compared to the cost of an additional body.

With that in mind, if you go to your boss and say you “need” more time on the job, you lose. Why? A few reasons.

First, the usual trade is employee time and labor for employee pay and benefits. If you “need” to work then the employer has leverage over you. What you want is a situation where you’re an equal in the marketplace with the employer, otherwise you’ll never be paid what you’re worth.

Notice that your “need” may be real and pressing. Still, you don’t want to tell your boss if you can help it.

Second, not all employers are saintly human beings. Some employers will take advantage of you if they can, others will take advantage because they’re being pressured by the management above them. Whatever the case, the bottom line is that you’ll get screwed.

Third, saying that you “need” work pushes the wrong button. The right button is this: Show the employer how he benefits.

An Example

“Wally, you know I really want to be the best worker in the place, the one person upon whom you can absolutely depend. I want to get stronger with the 1407 project (or with a lathe, or with clients, etc.) and to do that I need more time and experience so I can do a better job for you. When you check the schedule can you see if there might be more time for me. I can work late (or early or on weekends, etc.), whatever best suits your needs.”

Now the issue is packaged and marketed differently. Wally — the decision maker — can see how HE will benefit if you get more time at the workplace. You can bet that the next time Wally has a little more work that needs to be done, he will choose the person who can boost his interests rather than the person who doesn’t put Wally first.

Say Thanks

Amazingly enough, bosses are people too. If you get some extra time, always thank your boss in terms he can understand.

“Wally, I really appreciate your help with the Foster project (or machine repairs, or work at night, or whatever). I really think that during the past few weeks I’ve gotten much better, something that would not have happened without the extra hours.”

That’s it, that’s all you have to say.

Technorati Tags: Bureau of Labor Statistics, employment, hours, job, Money & Wages, overtime, unemployment, wages

For 2008, reports RealtyTrac.com, 2,330,483 U.S. properties received one or more foreclosure notices, typically default notices, auction sale notices and bank repossessions. That’s an 81 percent increase over 2007 — and a 225 percent spurt since 2006.

For all the news about foreclosures, foreclosure prevention and loan modification programs, a basic reality is that when people lose their jobs their foreclosure alternatives narrow and in too many cases drop to zero.

As an example, look at the latest foreclosure modification plan. The Obama program is vastly better than what we have seen before, but to get help you have to qualify and one benchmark concerns income. Under the plan, says the Treasury Department, “the lender will have to first reduce interest rates on mortgages to a specified affordability level.” What is that level? The borrower’s monthly mortgage payment should be no greater than 38% of his or her income. Government help can then lower monthly payments to 31 percent of an individual’s gross monthly income.

The 38 percent and 31 percent standards will potentially help many people, but it won’t help those without work. The standard assumes that homeowners are employed or self-employed, that they have a stream of income.

But for growing numbers of Americans that’s not the case. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that since the start of the recession in December 2007 some 3.6 million people have lost their jobs and about one-half of this decline occurred in the past three months.

There’s more: The BLS says that as of January we had 11.6 million people who were officially unemployed. In addition, we had 7.8 million “involuntary part-time” workers, folks who couldn’t get full-time work and another 2.1 million were “marginally attached to the labor force” — these are individuals who wanted work and were available for work and had looked for a job sometime in the prior 12 months. They were not counted as unemployed because they had not searched for work in the 4 weeks preceding the survey. Among the marginally attached, there were 734,000 “discouraged workers,” people not currently looking for work because they believe no jobs are available for them.

So rather than 11.6 million people looking for work the real number is much bigger, say about 21.5 million. In a country with 154.6 million people in the labor force we’re talking about a very large percentage of the population which is either unemployed or underemployed.

What do job losses this mean in terms of foreclosures, local home values, tax collections and related issues? Think of unemployment numbers as a “leading indicator,” a hint of things to come unless we put more people back to work.

Technorati Tags: Bureau of Labor Statistics, discouraged, foreclosure, jobs, marginally attached, Obama, Treasury, underemployed, unemployed, unemployment