Unless you have experienced job loss yourself, and remained unemployed for more than six months, you may not be aware of the human disaster occurring in America today. 

Five million Americans have been looking for work for more than six months, the definition of long term unemployment according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.  In American history, this has not occurred since the Great Depression.  Before the Great Recession of 2007, long term unemployment accounted for just 0.8 percent of the labor force, and how many have simply given up?

According to a New York Times op-ed piece on Sunday, written by two policy experts, one the director of the liberal Center for Economic and Policy Research, one the director of the conservative American Enterprise Institute, unemployment which goes on for more than six months is causing a “national emergency” in our country.

Click here to view the entire discussion on the PBS News Hour, Monday, May 14th.

The emotional and psychological costs especially among those workers over age 50 who may never find another job, or Afro-American or Latino workers, is enormous.  Because so many of us feel that our job IS our life, the probability of dying after long term unemployment goes up 50 to 100% with an ever increasing suicide rate as unemployment progresses.

Today it is estimated that there are an extra 130 suicides per month because of long term unemployment, effecting those over 50 more than the rest of us.  And, as noted in the PBS discussion last night, neither political party is adequately prepared to deal with this disaster.

Unemployment is almost always a traumatic event, especially for older workers.  I personally experienced major feelings of failure and depression after my own job/career loss at age 49, with no local options for finding future employment.  Then my husband’s job was sent to China in October 2011.  I have also attended numerous local job fairs and job loss events in my area in the past five years.  My own perception is, most Americans either are not aware of the human costs of the worst long term unemployment since the Great Depression, or they simply do not care.

I feel a lack of human compassion in our country for those who have lost their jobs and perhaps their families, and may never find their way back.  Perhaps this is caused by the human instinct for self-preservation or emotional burnout, but I find it unacceptable.

Do we simply not care if an extra 130 human beings kill themselves this month, because they have lost all faith and hope in their future?  This is America.  We can do better.

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