Gallup’s Underemployment Measure Continues To Rise

Economists can call Ben Bernanke all they want and say that the recession is over. Americans that live on Main Street are not buying into this point of view at all. Matter of fact, employment optimism is just as bad if not worse, as when the so called recession began in September of  2007.

Gallup asked this question in a recent poll: “Thinking about the job situation in America today, would you say that it is now a good time or a bad time to find a quality job?”

A whopping 88% of Americans believe now is a bad time to find a quality job. Well, it certainly doesn’t seem that a majority of Americans are agreeing with the rhetoric being spouted out on the television screen.  Gallup’s economic data itself even supports the idea that the recession is far from over.

The National Bureau of Economic Research announced recently that the recession that began in December 2007 officially ended in June 2009, as reported on the Gallup website.

Another poll asked this question: What do you think is the most important problem facing this country today?” It is no surprise at all that 72% of people expressed that the worst problems were the economy, jobs, and dissatisfaction of government.

Underemployment, as measured by Gallup, was 18.6% in August of 2010.

It is very clear that the economy will dominate the minds of voters when it comes election time in November. A bad economy will probably be detrimental to incumbents. But the voters will have the last say on that one.

This economy has allowed employers to hold down wages and hire overqualified employees. While the young have been affected by it all, it is the older workers that have been severely afflicted.

* Recession – A period of an economic contraction, sometimes limited in scope or duration. [Dictionary.com]