‘Middle-Educated’ Workers: Unemployment Rate Hits New High

According to this morning’s BLS report, the unemployment rate for ’middle-educated’ workers–people with some college or an associate degree–hit a new high of 9.1% in September. That’s up from 8.2% in June, and the highest unemployment rate since this data started being collected 20 years ago.

This is not the result of an improving labor market drawing in more willing workers who were sitting on the sideline. The labor force participation rate for this group is actually lower than it was in June. I’m going to do more analysis of the numbers to see exactly what’s happening here.

Meanwhile, the labor market situation for college graduates seems to be bottoming out–’improving’ would be too strong a word.

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About Michael Mandel 126 Articles

Michael Mandel was BusinessWeek's chief economist from 1989-2009, where he helped direct the magazine's coverage of the domestic and global economies.

Since joining BusinessWeek in 1989, he has received multiple awards for his work, including being honored as one of the 100 top U.S. business journalists of the 20th century for his coverage of the New Economy. In 2006 Mandel was named "Best Economic Journalist" by the World Leadership Forum.

Mandel is the author of several books, including Rational Exuberance, The Coming Internet Depression, and The High Risk Society.

Mandel holds a Ph.D. in economics from Harvard University.

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1 Comment on ‘Middle-Educated’ Workers: Unemployment Rate Hits New High

  1. There is much to be considered when we look at unemployment. Number 1, if one party holds the bulk of the wealth and are vying for office, wouldn’t it be within reason that the party who holds the wealth and with the greatest hurdle to overcome would withhold jobs until after the election. I’m very interested in knowing how others feel on this issue. Working together can make a tremendous difference in this overwhelming effort to revive our country from past errors and omissions.

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