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CNN Saturday Morning News
The Gray Zone: More than 4 Million Work Part-Time
Aired July 26, 2003 - 07:11 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THOMAS ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: The number of people looking for unemployment dropped to a five-month low this past week, from a 20- year high just a few weeks ago. But look closely at this, and you're going to see a big dark cloud out there. The unemployment rate still remains at a nine-year high, and economists don't expect it to drop below 6 percent by the end of 2004.
And as Kathleen Hays explains, if you count part-time workers performing odd jobs to make a living, the figures are a lot worse than you think.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This one was in Djakarta (ph).
KATHLEEN HAYS, CNN FINANCIAL NEWS (voice-over): For years, consultant Robert Radway (ph) traveled the world as a corporate lawyer. But the stock market downturn three years ago, followed by the 9/11 attacks, decimated his business, and now he works less than a third of the time. So he's looking for a full-time job.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If something would come along that's interesting, of course I would take it.
HAYS: He's in what you might call the twilight zone of the job market, a gray area that doesn't grab the headlines. Factor in this gray zone, and the rate of labor distress looks much higher than the official unemployment rate of 6.4 percent.
JARED BERNSTEIN, ECONOMIC POLICY INSTITUTE: That's closer to 10 percent, and that's probably a more realistic appraisal of just how difficult it is for workers to find any traction in this labor market.
HAYS: Along with the 9 million workers officially counted as unemployed, there are more than 4 million workers who are working part time because they can't get full-time jobs.
Take Amanda Ellis. She's working as many as seven low-paying part-time jobs and carrying the burden of monthly health insurance payments. She's looking hard for a full-time job so she can make enough money to go back to school.
AMANDA ELLIS, SEEKING FULL-TIME JOB: I run myself ragged to make ends meet, basically. I really -- when it comes down to it, I could probably work 24 hours a day, with all these little things I cobble together. But I'm not really making a living. HAYS: One and a half million unemployed workers have dropped out of the labor force but would take a job if they could find it. Discouraged workers disappear. The government drops them from its head count. It's no wonder people get discouraged. The unemployment rate's at a nine-year high, and the pain of job market insecurity makes it feel much higher.
BERNSTEIN: At this point, payrolls, the number of jobs in our economy, have actually been contracting now for about 28 months. That's the longest period of job loss in the post-World War II history.
HAYS: Robert Radway says he's knocking on every door he can, but there's not any sign of improvement on the horizon.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Still very slow. I don't see a lot of improvement. I don't see pickup. I mean, I hear it on the so-called cheerleaders out there, but I don't see it.
HAYS: And the tight labor market is not expected to loosen up any time soon. Economists say that employment will only pick up when and if the economy kicks into a higher gear next year.
Kathleen Hays, CNN Financial News, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired July 26, 2003 - 07:11 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THOMAS ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: The number of people looking for unemployment dropped to a five-month low this past week, from a 20- year high just a few weeks ago. But look closely at this, and you're going to see a big dark cloud out there. The unemployment rate still remains at a nine-year high, and economists don't expect it to drop below 6 percent by the end of 2004.
And as Kathleen Hays explains, if you count part-time workers performing odd jobs to make a living, the figures are a lot worse than you think.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This one was in Djakarta (ph).
KATHLEEN HAYS, CNN FINANCIAL NEWS (voice-over): For years, consultant Robert Radway (ph) traveled the world as a corporate lawyer. But the stock market downturn three years ago, followed by the 9/11 attacks, decimated his business, and now he works less than a third of the time. So he's looking for a full-time job.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If something would come along that's interesting, of course I would take it.
HAYS: He's in what you might call the twilight zone of the job market, a gray area that doesn't grab the headlines. Factor in this gray zone, and the rate of labor distress looks much higher than the official unemployment rate of 6.4 percent.
JARED BERNSTEIN, ECONOMIC POLICY INSTITUTE: That's closer to 10 percent, and that's probably a more realistic appraisal of just how difficult it is for workers to find any traction in this labor market.
HAYS: Along with the 9 million workers officially counted as unemployed, there are more than 4 million workers who are working part time because they can't get full-time jobs.
Take Amanda Ellis. She's working as many as seven low-paying part-time jobs and carrying the burden of monthly health insurance payments. She's looking hard for a full-time job so she can make enough money to go back to school.
AMANDA ELLIS, SEEKING FULL-TIME JOB: I run myself ragged to make ends meet, basically. I really -- when it comes down to it, I could probably work 24 hours a day, with all these little things I cobble together. But I'm not really making a living. HAYS: One and a half million unemployed workers have dropped out of the labor force but would take a job if they could find it. Discouraged workers disappear. The government drops them from its head count. It's no wonder people get discouraged. The unemployment rate's at a nine-year high, and the pain of job market insecurity makes it feel much higher.
BERNSTEIN: At this point, payrolls, the number of jobs in our economy, have actually been contracting now for about 28 months. That's the longest period of job loss in the post-World War II history.
HAYS: Robert Radway says he's knocking on every door he can, but there's not any sign of improvement on the horizon.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Still very slow. I don't see a lot of improvement. I don't see pickup. I mean, I hear it on the so-called cheerleaders out there, but I don't see it.
HAYS: And the tight labor market is not expected to loosen up any time soon. Economists say that employment will only pick up when and if the economy kicks into a higher gear next year.
Kathleen Hays, CNN Financial News, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
