The unemployment rate checked in last Friday at 9.7 percent, but let’s toss that aside and talk about the real rate – 16.8 percent. That’s the so-called U-6 rate that includes people on unemployment, those whose benefits have run out, people who’ve given up, and people who are working part time for economic reasons.

That’s the national rate. But there are pockets where things are far worse, such as California. There, according to the San Francisco Chronicle, 40 percent of “working age” Californians are unable to find a job. The figure comes from a Sacramento-based research group called the California Budget Project.

The organization published a 19-page Labor Day Special Report that notes: “The current recession stands apart from prior downturns for both the depth and breadth of destruction in the job market. California has lost more jobs at a faster rate in the past two years than during any prior recession for which data are available, and employment has fallen in nearly every major sector of the economy.”

The report predicted that the state’s unemployment rate would remain in double digits through 2011, and said even a return to modest GDP growth would likely result in a jobless recovery.

Now, for the health implications. Another Labor Day report published by Rutgers University based on a survey of long-term unemployed, as well as newly unemployed, warns that a tidal wave of related mental-health problems are washing over the nation, from coast to coast.

“Three-quarters of the still jobless report stress in their daily lives, two-thirds report being depressed, three-fifths feel helpless, and more than half say they’re angry,” the report said. “Significant numbers report having trouble sleeping, avoiding social situations, strained family relations, and increased substance dependency.”

The report (full release can be downloaded here) was based on a “scientific sampling” of 1,200 Americans unemployed and looking for work over the last 12 months.

The 894 who were still out of work at the time of the survey were described as “shaken, traumatized people coping with serious financial and psychological effects from an economic downturn of epic proportions.”

Carl Van Horn, director of the John J. Heldrich Center for Workforce Development, which conducted the research, said: “Millions of unemployed Americans are suffering economic and personal catastrophes. This is not your ordinary dip in the business cycle. Americans believe that this is the Katrina of recessions. Folks are on their rooftops without a boat. The water is rising, and many see no way out.”

More than half have borrowed money from relatives or friends. A quarter have missed mortgage, rent or credit card payments. Half are optimistic – but half are pessimistic – that they will be able to find a new job.

More than a quarter of those laid off were earning more than $75,000; an equal percentage had at least a four-year degree.

It’s fair to say that many employed people are nervous about what may happen next.

Unemployment issues have been mostly discussed in the media, and by elected officials, in economic contexts. I think it’s pretty obvious that they should become part of the health care debate as well.

Graph: Bureau of Labor Statistics, September 4





