Jan 08 2010 is going to be a very tough year for many Americans

The United States unemployment rate remained unchanged at 10 percent in December, but the economy lost an additional 85,000 jobs, the Department of Labor reported this morning. The numbers were worse than expected, because many economists had anticipated job growth during the month.

In addition, the labor force participation rate dropped to 64.6 percent in December from 64.9 percent in November, bringing it to the lowest level of the year. Some see this as a more accurate measure of the employment situation because it takes into account those who have given up looking for work because the job market was to weak, a segment of the population that is eliminated when calculating the headline unemployment number. There were 929,000 discouraged workers in December who gave up looking for work because they didn't think jobs were available.

Taking everything into account -- including the fact that some workers who are employed part-time would prefer to be working full-time -- the unemployment rate is 17.3 percent.

Think about the secondary effects of almost 20% of the country unemployed or under employed. Housing foreclosures will continue to be high, rents will continue to drop, retails sales will stay low keeping the job market weak.

Just stop and think that 1 out of every 5 people you know doesn't have 40 hours a week of work and 1 out of every 10 has no job at all!

Cross-posted and comments welcome at Anti-Strib.