NEW YORK–While the overall unemployment number in the U.S. continues to decline, the number of long-term unemployed is soaring.
New data released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics show nearly 3.6-million Americans were out of work for at least 27 weeks in October, a stunning jump of nearly 50% from September, a cohort that now accounts for one-third of the unemployed, up from less than one-fifth a month earlier, according to CNN Business.
“And the number is expected to increase in coming months, especially as hiring slows,” the report added. “The economy added 638,000 jobs in October, which was more than economists had expected but marked a slowdown in hiring from prior months. Meanwhile, the unemployment rate fell to 6.9% from 7.9% from the month before.”
Overall, there were about 10 million fewer jobs in October than in February. Among the 11 million Americans who remain unemployed, the median duration of joblessness was 19.3 weeks in October, CNN Business reported. It’s a number that has steadily ticked up since the pandemic began.
‘Worrisome’ Number
That's worrisome because those who lost their jobs months ago may suffer from an unemployment stigma, even though layoffs were widespread and were largely spurred by state-ordered lockdowns, Kate Bahn, director of labor market policy for the Washington Center for Equitable Growth, told CNN Business.
"It's going to be harder to get those people back to work," Bahn told the news outlet, noting that they may be forced to take risky jobs that pay less or they may drop out of the labor market completely.
The long-term unemployed are also running out of state jobless benefits. The Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation program, which Congress created in March to address the economic impact of the outbreak, provides the unemployed with 13 extra weeks of benefits, but it expires at the end of the year.