30 million Americans to demand income security
Will 30 million Americans demand income security?
Official unemployment is now 9.5 percent, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. As reported in the New York Times:
The American economy lost 467,000 jobs in June and the unemployment rate edged up to 9.5 percent in a sobering indication that the most painful downturn since the Great Depression has yet to release its hold.
(Note the passive phrasing: “the economy lost 467,000 jobs … the unemployment rate edged up.” That’s so common. Much more honest and meaningful, in my opinion, is to focus on real people, not abstractions. “Another 467,000 people lost their jobs last month.”)
The complete Times story is here.
It’s important to remember that 9.5 percent is just the official number. It excludes people who have given up looking for jobs, those who are only working part-time but would like full-time jobs, and those who have only contingent work. Including all of those, using what some analysts call “Effective Unemployment” the rate is 18.70 percent and the Effective Number of Unemployed is now 30,172,000.
Effective Unemployment is the subject of blog posting from Steve Clemons in the Washington Note:
Each month, I receive from Leo Hindery an update on “America’s effective unemployment rate” which includes not only the official unemployment figures but other data points showing off-the-books unemployed or underemployed people.
…
Hindery writes:
Here is a June 2009 version of the summary that calculates the Effective Unemployment Rate, which is now 18.70%, and the Effective Number of Unemployed, which is now 30,172,000.
There are currently 14,729,000 officially unemployed workers, as just announced. However, this figure does not include the combined 15,443,000 workers either (1) in the “labor force reserve” because they have abandoned their job searches (i.e., 4,278,000) or (2) underemployed because they are “part-time of necessity” (i.e., 8,989,000) or “otherwise marginally attached” (i.e., 2,176,000).
…
It’s important to see the entire picture of America’s jobs profile — no matter how unpleasant.
What are those 30 million people, the effectively unemployed, going to do? How are they going to manage? There aren’t enough jobs, and there won’t be. That would be obvious if we were not so numbed, distracted, and confused by the passive language.
Let’s give every one of the 30 million a guaranteed basic income of, say, $1,000 a month. Every adult citizen ought to get the same amount. Guaranteed. Unconditional. We can and must ensure that every citizen has an income independent of any job. Income security for all.
Millions of Americans demanded guaranteed income in the 1930s, and that’s how we won Social Security. In the 1960s, Martin Luther King Jr. and many moderate politicians and many leading economists also endorsed guaranteed income. It’s time to update the idea and enact it.
The complete plan, the idea, the benefits, and how we can make it happen, is in Peaceful, Positive Revolution,.
Additional information is on the home page and elsewhere on this web site.
I hope you’ll also comment on this blog. And please help spread the word.
Steven Shafarman
Tags: "the economy", jobs, Martin Luther King, ordinary Americans, unemployment