Tags : economic recovery, labor statistics, US unemployment
Reducing Spending by Jobless White Collar Workers Hurting Recovery
Chicago, IL (AHN) – The loss of high numbers of white collar jobs could hamper the nation’s economic recovery, according to a major job search counseling firm.
Of the 5.5 million Americans out of work in September for 27 weeks or more, 46 percent of them previously held management, professional, or sales and office occupations, according to John A. Challenger, chief executive officer of Challenger, Gray and Christmas Inc., a global outplacement consulting firm.
“White-collar workers make up about 60 percent of the labor force and their higher earnings give them spending power that is invaluable to the economy’s health. Prolonged joblessness among these workers will be a definite drag on the recovery,” Challenger said in a statement.
Challenger cited data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics that the number of jobless who had held management, professional and related occupations had nearly tripled to 2.9 million as of September. The number of unemployed who had worked in sales and office occupations had risen from 1.6 million to 3.4 million.
Those figures do not include those who have stopped looking for work.
Unemployed workers who formerly had high incomes had significantly reduced spending, Challenger added. He noted that nearly 64 percent of the unemployed seeking work through his firm had previously earned $85,000 or more.
The company said that was the highest percentage of high-income job seekers to use Challenger’s services since the company began tracking in 2000.
Challenger said that government data indicated that high-income workers also had high levels of spending. Of the $4.3 trillion spent by non-farm workers in 2007, 75 percent of the spending was from workers classified as managers and professionals or technical sales and clerical workers.
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