For indispensable reporting on the coronavirus crisis, the election, and more, subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily newsletter.





The latest unemployment data released today paint a somewhat disheartening picture—the jobless rate remains at 10 percent, and the economy shed 85,000 jobs last month—especially for this reason: Although jobs were lost, the unemployment rate held steady from the month before, meaning a large number of people had simply given up looking for a new job.

Which brings me to this graph from Calculated Risk. The blue line represents the number of people out of work for more than 26 weeks, and the red line represents the percentage of the workforce those long-term unemployed people represent. As you’ll see, those 6.13 million people unemployed for more than 26 weeks constitute 4 percent of the civilian workforce—a record since the the Bureau of Labor Statistics started collecting this data in 1948.

Now, there are a few bright signs in today’s jobs report. A crucial manufacturing index showed an encouraging uptick, raising the possibility of some growth in manufacturing industries, while the Labor Department revised jobs estimates from November to reflect gains of 4,000 jobs (the government had originally projected 11,000 lost jobs), the first gain in jobs in almost two years.

Krugman says the report supports his and others’ belief that the stimulus was too small, and Brad DeLong uses the report as evidence that our economic recovery, if that’s what this actually is, is likely going to be a jobless one. All in all, a decidedly mixed report, especially when it comes to the record numbers of the chronically unemployed, a total that’s only likely to grow in the coming months.

(H/T Calculated Risk)