Job losses caused by the Great Recession

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Job losses caused by the Great Recession refers to jobs that have been lost worldwide within people since the start of the Great Recession. In the US, job losses have been going on since December 2007, and it accelerated drastically starting in September 2008 following the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers. [1] By February 2010, the American economy was reported to be more shaky than the economy of Canada. Many service industries (particularly in countries that either have the same unemployment rate as the United States or greater) have reported dropping their prices in order to maximize profit margins (looking to make use of any price elasticity of demand in their market segments). This is an era in which employment is becoming unstable, and in which being either underemployed or unemployed is a common part of life for many people.

Contents

Net job gains and losses by month

United States

US Employment to population ratio, 1990-2021 US Employment to Population Ratio.png
US Employment to population ratio, 1990–2021
Job loss in the United States in 2008 by thousands Job loss 2008.png
Job loss in the United States in 2008 by thousands

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

Table

YEARJANFEBMARAPRMAYJUNJULAUGSEPOCTNOVDECAnnualSource
2006277315280182237720718415722101712085 [9]
2007238881887814471-33-168582118971140 [9]
200815-906-80-214-182-172-210-259-452-474-765-697-3576 [9]
2009-798-701-826-684-354-467-327-216-227-198-6-283-5087 [9]
201018-50156251516-122-61-42-57241137711058 [9]
2011701602123221022171061222211831641962083 [9]
201236022614396110881601501612252032142236 [9]
2013197280141203199201149202164237274842331 [9]
2014144222203304229267243203271243*321*---2086* [9]

Note: Job losses in June and July 2010 are largely attributed to US census worker jobs lost. Private sector jobs have increased during those months.

Since the start of the recession, 8.8 million jobs have been lost, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. [10]

In the U.S., jobs paying between $14 and $21 per hour made up about 60% those lost during the recession, but such mid-wage jobs have comprised only about 27% of jobs gained during the recovery through mid-2012. In contrast, lower-paying jobs constituted about 58% of the jobs regained. [11]

Canada

Drastic job loss in Canada started later than in the US. 45 crores jobs has been lost in the USA itself in the time period. Some months in 2008 had job growth, such as September, while others such as July had losses. Due to the collapse of the American car industry at the same time as a strong Canadian dollar achieved parity +10% against a poorly-performing US dollar, the cross-border manufacturing industry has been disproportionately affected throughout. [12]

(1) 37,000 jobs are gained in the self-employment category [24]

While job creation has increased in the past three months, most Canadians still complain about people getting laid off from work. However, a growing amount of these layoffs are considered for seasonal purposes and has little or no relation to the recession. Excluding Stelco employees, most laid off workers have six months to acquire a job while collecting unemployment insurance. After that, they must go on welfare and continue their job search from there.

The employment rate has been stabilized between 8.0% and 11.0% for the past two years; signifying the economic strength of Canada's financial institutions compared to its counterparts in the United States. Many job places in Canada (i.e., grocery stores and restaurants) have opted to reduce hours rather than lay off staff. This unemployment of job protection is especially in industries that are needed to keep the economy from going into a depression. While the automotive sector is slowly recalling workers back to work, grocery stores and restaurants have slashed hours in the face of the global recession.

Australia

April 2009 Australian unemployment rate: 5.5% [27]
July 2009 Australian unemployment rate: 5.8% [28]
August 2009 Australian unemployment rate: 5.8% [29]
September 2009 Australian unemployment rate: 5.7% [30]
October 2009 Australian unemployment rate: 5.8% [31]

The unemployment rate for October rose slightly due to population growth and other factors leading to 35,000 people looking for work, even though 24,500 jobs were created.

In general, throughout the subdued economic growth caused by the recession in the rest of the world, Australian employers have elected to cut working hours rather than fire employees, in recognition of the skill shortage caused by the resources boom.

United Kingdom

In September 2007, approximately a year before the recession began, unemployment stood at 1,649,000. [32] By the end of 2008, that figure had risen to 1,860,000 - an increase of 211,000 and nearly 13%. [33] By March 2009, unemployment had increased to more than 2,000,000 - the highest level the nation had seen for more than 12 years. [34] It reached 2,261,000 by June that year, [35] and by April 2010 had exceeded 2,500,000 for the first time in 16 years. [36]

Confounding variables in determining cause and effect

The causality linking job losses to reduced business revenue is obviously grounded in reality, at least to a large extent. After all, it is self-evident that a firm with one million dollars in annual revenue cannot pay a two-million-dollar annual payroll without going into either debt or bankruptcy. However, at least some of the apparent or alleged causality is difficult to confirm quantitatively, because the data collection and analysis that would be required to do so faces high barriers to implementation, principally the privacy surrounding the accountancy. There is a common theme among working people, [37] although it is not widely studied or reported in reliable academic or journalistic sources, along the lines that firms are "using the recession as an excuse" for staff reductions whose true root causes lie elsewhere, such as:

This theme also extends to compensation reduction or growth freezes, with the suspicion again being that the recession is an excuse for, e.g., wage raise freezes, wage cuts, or increasing the employees' contribution percentage for (or lowering the benefits of) company health insurance, company retirement plans, and so on.

It is very difficult to accurately detect, verify, or track the data that would be needed to test these hypotheses. Short of any outright auditing (which has no legally justifiable basis), firms have a fair amount of plausible deniability. As for the concern that productivity growth drives unemployment, the very idea is controversial, and it depends on whatever the true reality may be in the relationship of automation to unemployment. Certainly a pattern of multiple jobless recoveries, where GDP grows while employment stagnates, makes the public wonder about firms' assurances that all layoffs are necessitated by business conditions alone.

Related Research Articles

In economics, a recession is a business cycle contraction that occurs when there is a general decline in economic activity. Recessions generally occur when there is a widespread drop in spending. This may be triggered by various events, such as a financial crisis, an external trade shock, an adverse supply shock, the bursting of an economic bubble, or a large-scale anthropogenic or natural disaster.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Economy of Spain</span>

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Unemployment</span> People without work and actively seeking work

Unemployment, according to the OECD, is people above a specified age not being in paid employment or self-employment but currently available for work during the reference period.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Discouraged worker</span> Person of legal employment age who is not actively seeking employment

In economics, a discouraged worker is a person of legal employment age who is not actively seeking employment or who has not found employment after long-term unemployment, but who would prefer to be working. This is usually because an individual has given up looking, hence the term "discouraged".

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A jobless recovery or jobless growth is an economic phenomenon in which a macroeconomy experiences growth while maintaining or decreasing its level of employment. The term was coined by the economist Nick Perna in the early 1990s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Early 1980s recession</span> Global economic recession

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Youth unemployment in the United Kingdom</span>

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This information is related to the effects of the Great Recession that happened worldwide from 2007 to 2012.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Early 1990s recession in the United States</span>

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Early 1980s recession in the United States</span> Economic recession

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Youth unemployment</span> Situation of young people who are willing to work but unable to find a job

Youth unemployment is a special case of unemployment; youth, here, meaning those between the ages of 15 and 24.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Causes of unemployment in the United States</span> Overview of some possible causes of unemployment in the United States

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References

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  19. ↑ Canadian, The (2010-05-31). "109000 fewer jobless people in Canada". Baystreet.money.ca.msn.com. Archived from the original on May 29, 2010. Retrieved 2010-05-31.
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  21. ↑ Canadian, The (2010-07-02). "20000 fewer jobless people in Canada". Canada.com. Retrieved 2010-07-04.[ permanent dead link ]
  22. 1 2 "Canadian Unemployment Rate At 8.0% October 9 2010". Archived from the original on 2013-12-03. Retrieved 2010-10-20.
  23. 1 2 "unemployment rate dips to 7.9% November 5, 2010". Archived from the original on July 20, 2011. Retrieved November 5, 2010.
  24. ↑ Julian Beltrame THE CANADIAN PRESS (2009-06-03). "Experts predict bleak job numbers tomorrow". thestar.com. Toronto. Archived from the original on 2009-06-08. Retrieved 2010-01-21.
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  29. ↑ "6202.0 - Labour Force, Australia, August 2009". Abs.gov.au. Archived from the original on 2009-09-17. Retrieved 2010-01-21.
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  31. ↑ "(Page not found)". Archived from the original on July 6, 2011. Retrieved October 20, 2010.{{cite web}}: Cite uses generic title (help)
  32. ↑ "Pay rising as unemployment falls". BBC News. 2007-09-12. Archived from the original on 2009-01-24. Retrieved 2011-07-26.
  33. ↑ "Unemployment increases by 137,000". BBC News. 2008-12-17. Archived from the original on 2013-06-01. Retrieved 2011-07-26.
  34. ↑ "Unemployment passes two million". BBC News. 2009-03-18. Archived from the original on 2023-03-27. Retrieved 2011-07-26.
  35. ↑ "UK jobless total at 12-year high". BBC News. 2009-06-17. Archived from the original on 2023-09-15. Retrieved 2011-07-26.
  36. ↑ "UK unemployment increases to 2.5m". BBC News. 2010-04-21. Archived from the original on 2023-03-27. Retrieved 2011-07-26.
  37. ↑ Hinted at by the many [informal/colloquial] online discussions found by web searches such as "using the recession as an excuse to lay off".
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