Employment situation

Today's employment report from the BLS was much as expected: 216,000 jobs lost (net) and unemployment up to 9.7%. Though the economy is probably growing, the labor market's still going to be lousy for awhile. Bob Barbera in his weekly newsletter says that employment growth will rise to zero by the end of the year and turn positive by the first quarter of 2010. We shall see.

Meanwhile, the unemployment rate, even at 9.7%, kind of understates the terrible state the job market is in. Unemployment was higher in the 1981-83 recession, so what's all this talk about Great Depression #2? We can get some information about the intensity of the unemployment experience by looking at the median duration of unemployment. These figures are startling. I mean, just look, the picture tells the story!