Youth unemployment

As we approach graduation season, it’s important to note the uphill battle young job seekers continue to face in today’s labor market. The unemployment rate for workers under the age of 25 has improved to 16.0 percent since its peak of 19.6 percent in the spring of 2010, but, excluding the Great Recession and its aftermath, remains higher than it has been since the fall of 1983.

Evidence from past recessions of the effect on young workers who entered the labor market during a downturn shows that the impact is severe and long-lasting. In particular, entering the labor market in a severe downturn can lead to reduced earnings for up to 10 to 15 years. Young workers at all levels of educational attainment who enter the labor market during a downturn face higher rates of unemployment. With a scarcity of job openings, young workers are 1) less likely to land a stable entry-level job that will lead to advancement, and 2) more likely to experience a lengthy period of instability in employment and earnings.

See also: The class of 2011: Young workers face a dire labor market without a safety net

Unemployment by Industry

More here.

Construction industry's relationship to unemployment

[from the Economic Policy Institute] We often hear that our high unemployment is the result of the housing boom and the need to shift unemployed construction workers into new fields, which takes time and training. Construction employment has fallen dramatically since the housing bubble burst, but construction worker unemployment is neither what raised the unemployment rate nor what prevents it from falling as rapidly as we would want. The graph makes this clear by showing the overall unemployment rate and the unemployment rate excluding construction.

In the early aftermath of the housing collapse in 2007, the unemployment rate was 4.6 percent, just one-tenth of a percentage point higher than if there were no construction sector. By 2011, the unemployment rate had risen to 8.9 percent and would have been 8.6 percent without construction. The rise in unemployment from 2007 to 2011 was 4.3 percentage points (going from 4.6 percent to 8.9 percent) and would have risen 4.1 percentage points without any construction sector (from 4.5 percent to 8.6 percent). Thus, just 0.2 percentage points of the overall 4.3 percentage-point rise in unemployment can be attributed to higher construction worker unemployment; that is, construction-sector unemployment is responsible for less than 5 percent of the overall rise in unemployment between 2007 and 2011.

Report examines America's Poor

[from Philanthropy News Digest] In the aftermath of the Great Recession, the ranks of the long-term unemployed have swelled to more than four million, the highest since the number first was tracked in 1948, a report from the Indiana University School of Public and Environmental Affairs finds. The report, At Risk: America's Poor During and After the Great Recession (40 pages, PDF), examined trends by state, age, race/ethnicity, family structure, education, and employment and found that the proportion of U.S. residents living in poverty rose by 27 percent — to 46.2 million — between 2006 and 2010, with higher rates of increase among Latinos/Hispanics and African Americans, children, female-headed households, and lower-skilled adults between the ages of 18 and 34. The report also notes that while safety-net programs such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, Medicaid, and unemployment insurance have responded effectively to the increase, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families and federal housing assistance have not. And given the likelihood of additional cuts in safety-net programs, the authors write, the working poor, the near poor, and the long-term unemployed "new poor" are at substantial risk for at least the next five years.

Manufacturing grows, gov't jobs shrink

[from the Commonwealth Foundation] The Bureau of Labor Statistics has updated their employment data by state through the end of 2011 (subject to revision). Looking at December job data ("not seasonally adjusted") over the past couple decades reveals some interesting trends:

• 2011 saw the largest one-year growth in private sector jobs in Pennsylvania since 1999, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data.
• Manufacturing job growth in Pennsylvania was higher than any year since 1990.
• From 2000 to 2010, the private sector lost 116,400 jobs, while government jobs grew by 30,800.
• In 2011, government jobs declined by 20,200, but the private sector grew by 79,000 jobs

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Off the Charts blog also reported on this trend, noting "Local governments — mostly school districts — cut another 11,000 jobs last month.  Total job losses at the state and local government levels have reached 668,000 since employment in this category peaked in August of 2008."

PA Corrections Spending

When the Pew Center on the States looked at prisoners released in Pennsylvania between 1999-2002 and 2004-2007, it found the rate of prisoners returning to prisons increased. [from The Commonwealth Foundation - "Is State Corrections Spending Sustainable?"]

The Occupational Outlook Quarterly Online has released new projections for 2010-2020. The report includes occupational trends, industry projections, and several other data that help individuals, education providers, and workforce development specialists consider the future when planning for career pathways.