Detroit 50% Unemployed: WTF

I've been telling my friends for awhile that if you want to look about a year or two in the future, look at Detroit.
 
http://detnews.com/article/20091216...arly-half-of-Detroit-s-workers-are-unemployed
Despite an official unemployment rate of 27 percent, the real jobs problem in Detroit may be affecting half of the working-age population, thousands of whom either can't find a job or are working fewer hours than they want.

Using a broader definition of unemployment, as much as 45 percent of the labor force has been affected by the downturn.

And that doesn't include those who gave up the job search more than a year ago, a number that could exceed 100,000 potential workers alone.

"It's a big number, and we should be concerned about it whether it's one in two or something less than that," said George Fulton, a University of Michigan economist who helps craft economic forecasts for the state.

Mayor Dave Bing recently raised eyebrows when he said what many already suspected: that the city's official unemployment rate was as believable as Santa Claus. In Washington for a jobs forum earlier this month, he estimated it was "closer to 50 percent."

Although the government doesn't produce an unemployment number that high, it's not hard to get close.

Officially, the unemployment rate in Detroit was estimated at 27 percent in October. But that number does not include people working part-time who want full-time work, nor does it include "discouraged" workers, who have stopped looking for work. It also doesn't include people who have gone back to school rather than search for a job.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics estimated that for the year that ended in September, Michigan's official unemployment rate was 12.6 percent. Using the broadest definition of unemployment, the state unemployment rate was 20.9 percent, or 66 percent higher than the official rate. Since Detroit's official rate for October was 27 percent, that broader rate pushes the city's rate to as high as 44.8 percent.
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If you are not looking for work (discouraged workers who gave up looking for a job or those who simply don't want a job in the first place for whatever reason) should you be considered unemployed?
If you have a job but wish you had more hours should you be considered unemployed?
If you have a job but wish you made more money, should you be considered unemployed?

These people are not counted in official unemployment statistics.
Either way, things are tough in Detroit. The city is literally getting smaller by the week.

What should be done? Let the market decide what jobs Detroit should or should not have and let those who cannot find work leave or starve? Should the government come in and spend more money there to try to create jobs?
 
Zippyjuan said:
What should be done? Let the market decide what jobs Detroit should or should not have and let those who cannot find work leave or starve? Should the government come in and spend more money there to try to create jobs?
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If the government got out of the way, jobs would come back to Detroit. The problem in Detroit is too much regulation, too many taxes, too high taxes, and ineffective services. You try to run a business when you're buried in regulatory paperwork, you pay a multitude of taxes that take a huge bite out of your profits, and you can't even get the cops within a short notice when someone vandalizes your shop.
 
The other problem with Detroit is that they offer immediate and infinite entitlement benefits. People that want to work are migrating, people that want to whine and panhandle stay in Detroit.
 
And of course there is the auto industry that has cratered many local economies in and around Detroit. Despite GM getting bailed out time and again, they've shut down many plants. The actual city itself seemed to get hit the hardest.

My sister lives in Royal Oak, a suburb outside of the city. There is still life there. People going to dinner, shopping, and spending. Although my wife and I got some ridiculous cash-only deals over Thanksgiving weekend from some local shops who were desperate to sell. Driving through the capital, Lansing, it seemed like a ghost town compared to when I was growing up 10 years ago. All the buildings are still there, just not many people or cars around. You can tell things are bad, but not dire quite yet.
 
Zippyjuan said:
http://detnews.com/article/20091216...arly-half-of-Detroit-s-workers-are-unemployed


If you are not looking for work (discouraged workers who gave up looking for a job or those who simply don't want a job in the first place for whatever reason) should you be considered unemployed?
If you have a job but wish you had more hours should you be considered unemployed?
If you have a job but wish you made more money, should you be considered unemployed?

These people are not counted in official unemployment statistics.
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Use the mesure you want, but when you compare it to the Great Depression use the right mesure. During the Great Depression the usual unemployment mesure was U6. So if you are going to compare you will need to use U6. I have seen people say that this is not as bad as the Great Depression because back then unemplyoment (U6) was over 20%, and now unemployment (U3) is only arround 10%. :eek:
 
krazy kaju said:
If the government got out of the way, jobs would come back to Detroit. The problem in Detroit is too much regulation, too many taxes, too high taxes, and ineffective services. You try to run a business when you're buried in regulatory paperwork, you pay a multitude of taxes that take a huge bite out of your profits, and you can't even get the cops within a short notice when someone vandalizes your shop.
Click to expand...

I think the fact that the city has basically turned into a shithole that nobody wants to live in is now a bigger problem than gov't regulation and taxes. If Detroit suddenly said "No Business Taxes for One Year" would corporations flock to Detroit? I say no because the city is so far into disrepair already that few would want to live there. Sure they would get some "corporate offices" popping up (a single phone, computer, filing cabinet and local registered agent but that's it) for tax purposes. The city wouldn't have any money to invest into rebuilding infrastructure and private industry wouldn't do it either. The city is just too far gone now for lower taxes and lower regulations to make much of a difference. This is ignoring the offshoring of so many manufacturing jobs that are not coming back that a city like Detroit used to rely on. What would be their new market???
 
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devil21 said:
I think the fact that the city has basically turned into a shithole that nobody wants to live in is now a bigger problem than gov't regulation and taxes. If Detroit suddenly said "No Business Taxes for One Year" would corporations flock to Detroit? I say no because the city is so far into disrepair already that few would want to live there. Sure they would get some "corporate offices" popping up (a single phone, computer, filing cabinet and local registered agent but that's it) for tax purposes. The city wouldn't have any money to invest into rebuilding infrastructure and private industry wouldn't do it either. The city is just too far gone now for lower taxes and lower regulations to make much of a difference. This is ignoring the offshoring of so many manufacturing jobs that are not coming back that a city like Detroit used to rely on. What would be their new market???
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The cities is in such a state that there is no way to make a quick recovery. It will take years no matter what to undo all the damage the bad policies have created. But what he said is a good start for the fastest recovery.
 
At 1:30 there is the sign that represents what this is all about:

"Where are 20,000 troops to protect our children and communities".

There it is, the proles will welcome, they will beg for, martial law.

Union, as it stands right now, has failed.

Nullification, separation and secession is the only answer.
 
Sounds like a struggling, directionless workforce ripe for an agorist revolution.

Put them all to work shutting down regulatory red-tape and chasing away tax collectors, thus paving way for an era of economic growth.
 
Chaohinon said:
Sounds like a struggling, directionless workforce ripe for an agorist revolution.

Put them all to work shutting down regulatory red-tape and chasing away tax collectors, thus paving way for an era of economic growth.
Click to expand...

lolololololololololol
 
Michigan should lower the minimum wage, adopt right to work laws and Detroit should lower property taxes.
 
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