SNAP Food Stamp Participation: May 2013

As a logical consequence of the prolonged economic downturn, participation in the federal food stamp program is continuing to rise.

In fact, household participation has been climbing so steadily that it has dwarfed the last peak (which looks like a minor blip by comparison) set as a result of the immediate fallout following hurricane Katrina.

The latest data released by the Department of Agriculture indicated that in May, 86,720 individual recipients were added to the food stamps program with the current total still increasing 2.45% on a year-over-year basis.

Individuals receiving food stamp benefits increased to 47.63 million which, as a ratio of the overall civilian non-institutional population now stands at a whopping 19.41% of the population.

Households receiving food stamps benefits increased by 32,084 to 23.07 million households with the current total rising 3.29% above the level seen a year earlier

As participation continues to swell, so too has the total nominal benefit cost climbing 2.27% on a year-over-year basis to $6.32 billion for the month.

Recovery-less Recovery: Unemployment Duration February 2013

Today's employment situation report showed that conditions for the long term unemployed worsened notably in February while still remaining distressed by historic standards.

Workers unemployed 27 weeks or more increased to 4.797 million or 40.2% of all unemployed workers while the median term of unemployment increased to 17.8 weeks and the average stay on unemployment increased to 36.9 weeks.

Looking at the charts below (click for super interactive versions) you can see that today’s sorry situation far exceeds even the conditions seen during the double-dip recessionary period of the early 1980s, long considered by economists to be the worst period of unemployment since the Great Depression.

Recovery-less Recovery: Unemployment Duration December 2012

Today's employment situation report showed that conditions for the long term unemployed improved slightly in December while remaining notably distressed by historic standards.

Workers unemployed 27 weeks or more decreased to 4.766 million or 39.1% of all unemployed workers (the lowest level seen since November 2009) while the median term of unemployment dropped to 18.0 weeks and the average stay on unemployment declined to 38.1 weeks.

Looking at the charts below (click for super interactive versions) you can see that today’s sorry situation far exceeds even the conditions seen during the double-dip recessionary period of the early 1980s, long considered by economists to be the worst period of unemployment since the Great Depression.

On The Margin: Total Unemployment December 2012

Today’s Employment Situation report showed that in December “total unemployment” including all marginally attached workers went flat at 14.4% while the traditionally reported unemployment rate also went flat at a revised 7.8%.

The traditional unemployment rate is calculated from the monthly household survey results using a fairly explicit definition of “unemployed” (essentially unemployed and currently looking for full time employment) leaving many workers to be considered effectively “on the margin” either employed in part time work when full time is preferred or simply unemployed and no longer looking for work.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics considers “marginally attached” workers (including discouraged workers) and persons who have settled for part time employment to be “underutilized” labor.

The broadest view of unemployment would include both traditionally unemployed workers and all other underutilized workers.

To calculate the “total” rate of unemployment we would simply use this larger group rather than the smaller and more restrictive “unemployed” group used in the traditional unemployment rate calculation.

Recovery-less Recovery: Unemployment Duration June 2012

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Be sure to bookmark the "Scary Unemployment Dashboard"... it's live.

Today's employment situation report showed that conditions for the long term unemployed generally improved in June but remained epically distressed by historic standards.

Workers unemployed 27 weeks or more declined to 5.370 million or 41.9% of all unemployed workers while the median number of weeks unemployed declined to 19.8 weeks and the average stay on unemployment climbed to 39.9 weeks.

Looking at the charts below (click for super interactive versions) you can see that today’s sorry situation far exceeds even the conditions seen during the double-dip recessionary period of the early 1980s, long considered by economists to be the worst period of unemployment since the Great Depression.

Recovery-less Recovery: Unemployment Duration March 2012

Be sure to bookmark the "Scary Unemployment Dashboard"... it's live.

Today's employment situation report showed that conditions for the long term unemployed improved in March but remained epically distressed by historic standards.

Workers unemployed 27 weeks or more declined to 5.308 million or 42.5% of all unemployed workers while the median number of weeks unemployed declined to 19.9 weeks and the average stay on unemployment declined to 39.4 weeks, the highest level ever recorded.

Looking at the charts below (click for super interactive versions) you can see that today’s sorry situation far exceeds even the conditions seen during the double-dip recessionary period of the early 1980s, long considered by economists to be the worst period of unemployment since the Great Depression.