Friday, September 16, 2011

The Great Recession. Will Riots Break Out As The Poverty Rate Rises?

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg is worried that high U.S. unemployment could lead to the same kind of riots here that have swept through Europe and North Africa.

"You have a lot of kids graduating college, [who] can't find jobs," said Bloomberg, during his weekly radio show on Friday. "That's what happened in Cairo. That's what happened in Madrid. You don't want those kinds of riots here."

That was the mayor's response when asked about the poverty rate, which rose to 15.1% in 2010, its highest level since 1993, according to census data released Tuesday. About 46.2 million people are now living in poverty, 2.6 million more than last year.

"The public is not happy," he said. "The public knows there is something wrong in this country, and there is. The bottom line is that they're upset."

Riots have gripped various countries in European cities, including Athens and London, fueled by young people infuriated by high unemployment and austerity measures, which in some cases has led to looting. High unemployment among youth is also one of the driving forces behind the Arab Spring, as impoverished protestors in North Africa and the Middle East rose up against their heavy-handed governments.

"The damage to a generation that can't find jobs will go on for many, many years," said Bloomberg.
http://money.cnn.com/2011/09/16/news/economy/bloomberg_jobs_riots/index.htm?hpt=hp_t2

Answers to jobs crisis?
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Representative JOHN BOEHNER: Well, let's be honest with ourselves. The president's proposals are a poor substitute for the pro-growth policies that are needed to remove barriers to job creation in America.
"
http://www.npr.org/2011/09/16/140533706/political-chat-boehners-answer-to-jobs-crisis

The jobs crisis began in 2001

Posted by Ezra Klein at 05:25 PM ET, 09/14/2011

“Two less obvious factors predated the recession. The first is the steepness of the rise in job scarcity during the previous recession in 2001, which rivaled that during the deep downturn of the early 1980s. The second is the failure between 2003 and 2007 of jobs per jobseeker to recover from the 2001 recession...Unemployment increased during the 2001 recession, but it subsequently fell almost to its previous low. In contrast, job openings plummeted—much more sharply than unemployment rose—and then failed to recover. In previous recoveries, openings eventually outnumbered job seekers (where a rising blue line crosses a falling green line), but during the last recovery a labor shortage never emerged.” — Brookings’ Scott Winship, in a post you should read.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezra-klein/post/the-jobs-crisis-began-in-2001/2011/08/25/gIQAMK3eSK_blog.html

Jobless Spikes