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1 in 4 Americans are jobless or earning poverty-level wages, new study finds

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Re: 1 in 4 Americans are jobless or earning poverty-level wages, new study finds

#51

Post by vmception »

koolba wrote: post #34
_qulr wrote: post #12

"By comparison, the October jobless rate stood at 6.9%, down from 14.7% in April as workers regained jobs or gave up searching for work." I love how the hopeless are not counted as jobless.

Consistency in how statistics are measured is important. You can rag on the methods but without consistency it’d be meaningless. The majority of what you term as “hopeless” is seniors that are let go and eventually decide to retire rather than entering the work force at wages less than they earned previously. It’s not a bunch of disillusioned 20 somethings giving up on life.

I wonder if you are "hopelessly" misinformed or open to accepting information that conflicts with your worldview

Re: 1 in 4 Americans are jobless or earning poverty-level wages, new study finds

#52

Post by cdash »

jrobn wrote: post #15
chokeartist wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Seriously? Grow up man.

American news is the WWE of news. Nothing wrong with his position.

There is when he is asking someone else to summarize a story from an American news source because he is too stubborn to read it himself cause of his "principles".

Re: 1 in 4 Americans are jobless or earning poverty-level wages, new study finds

#53

Post by tssva »

nickthemagicman wrote: post #11

What is that almost a 100 million people? Seems like a lot. I wonder how many have families and kids. Such a bummer. At least Granny is safe!

Pre-pandemic the percentage of Americans living below the poverty line was the lowest it had been in decades. The rate for 2019 was 11.1% or 40.6 million people. Of course it has jumped significantly during the pandemic, but the question is how much and how quickly the number will return towards pre-pandemic numbers once the pandemic ends.

Re: 1 in 4 Americans are jobless or earning poverty-level wages, new study finds

#54

Post by qppo »

93po wrote: post #13
_qulr wrote: post #12

"By comparison, the October jobless rate stood at 6.9%, down from 14.7% in April as workers regained jobs or gave up searching for work." I love how the hopeless are not counted as jobless.

This has sadly been the case for a long time. Some people try to defend it for various reasons and keeping track of this figure isn't a problem for me personally, but calling it the unemployment rate and acting like it's representative of reality bugs the heck out of me

It is reality. What it reflects about reality may not be immediately obvious but that's true of most metrics.

It's important to understand that the value of the unemployment rate is not the absolute number but its change over time.

We also have other metrics published alongside the unemployment rate, like labor participation.

Re: 1 in 4 Americans are jobless or earning poverty-level wages, new study finds

#55

Post by maroonblazer »

There's been a growing number of voices[0][1][2] speaking to not only inequality but also the meritocratic system that seems to have positive feedback loops that worsens inequality by precluding opportunities for those who don't fit the mold of the college education track. I think it's only a matter of time (within the next decade?) where this comes to a head and results in some shock to the system that forces a correction.

[0]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital_in_the_Twenty-First_Ce...

[1]https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/43671669-the-meritocr...

[2]https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/51087394-the-cult-of-sma...

Re: 1 in 4 Americans are jobless or earning poverty-level wages, new study finds

#56

Post by qppo »

topkai22 wrote: post #37

While their is much reasonable debate about what "true" poverty level rates are, this study uses a threshold of $20k/year for a worker. That's significantly higher than the federal rate set by the Census bureau at $14k/year for a single worker with no other household members. A 2 earner household each pulling in $18k a year, or $36k a year, in the cheaper parts of the US is not an easy life, but its also difficult to…

It's not difficult to call that poverty at all. It's uncomfortable or upsetting, but not difficult.

Re: 1 in 4 Americans are jobless or earning poverty-level wages, new study finds

#57

Post by pueblito »

CinchWrench wrote: post #44
kiba wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They do? Who are these people?

Lol. which people? The ones questioning why we should accept this or the ones foisting this on the population? I could tell you but I'll be b& from commenting. :-)

I would personally prefer a direct answer. Then your post could be informative and discussed. Perhaps you could add nuance to the discourse. I think that by joking around that you’d be banned for doing so prevents that discussion from happening

Re: 1 in 4 Americans are jobless or earning poverty-level wages, new study finds

#58

Post by ilaksh »

jorblumesea wrote: post #33
mcbutterbunz wrote: post #4

If you’re a capitalist or a socialist or somewhere in between, I think we should try to find common ground that this isn’t a good position for society or the future.

I really don't believe people think that way, unfortunately. Many people see this as the "natural order of things". The idea that a significant percentage of the population should be in debt, jobless or lacking healthcare coverage has been normalized and institutionalized in the US. Anyone who wants to change this will be fighting an uphill battle against cultural norms, vested business interests and ideological posi…

Its usually all of the above. In debt, jobless AND lacking healthcare.

Re: 1 in 4 Americans are jobless or earning poverty-level wages, new study finds

#59

Post by Retric »

koolba wrote: post #34
_qulr wrote: post #12

"By comparison, the October jobless rate stood at 6.9%, down from 14.7% in April as workers regained jobs or gave up searching for work." I love how the hopeless are not counted as jobless.

Consistency in how statistics are measured is important. You can rag on the methods but without consistency it’d be meaningless. The majority of what you term as “hopeless” is seniors that are let go and eventually decide to retire rather than entering the work force at wages less than they earned previously. It’s not a bunch of disillusioned 20 somethings giving up on life.

The majority of hopeless people are a long way from retirement. Homeless, long term disability, or people living off of their parents etc. America is rich enough that bring poor represents a huge range of lifestyles from young raft guides living in leaky cabins to just about everything else.

Re: 1 in 4 Americans are jobless or earning poverty-level wages, new study finds

#60

Post by CinchWrench »

pueblito wrote: post #57
CinchWrench wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Lol. which people? The ones questioning why we should accept this or the ones foisting this on the population? I could tell you but I'll be b& from commenting. :-)

I would personally prefer a direct answer. Then your post could be informative and discussed. Perhaps you could add nuance to the discourse. I think that by joking around that you’d be banned for doing so prevents that discussion from happening

It's no joke, pal.
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