Real Time: A MaineCF Community Building Blog

With a daily dose of dismal news about the economic plight of state governments throughout the U.S., I should not have been surprised by some of the data I heard last week at a meeting of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston’s Community Development Advisory Council. But I was stunned.

In spite of anecdotal evidence to the contrary -- just look at crowded mall parking lots and the lack of empty tables at local restaurants -- the current recession has unique “fingerprints” according to Professor Andrew Sum, director of the Center for Labor Market Studies at Northeastern University. Here are a few of the findings he shared with us:

• The average duration of unemployment during this recession is now 30 weeks, versus 20 weeks in the recession of 1980-1981. There are currently 5.7 unemployed U.S. workers for each job opening.
  
  
• The recession is taking a greater toll on men, the less well educated, younger workers, and blue collar employees. Blue collar workers have experienced a 16% loss of jobs, versus professional workers, who have experienced a 2% gain from the beginning of the recession. Among adults 65 years and older, there has been no net loss of jobs. And women with a BA have seen employment actually increase by 1%. The job loss for most blue collar unemployment is permanent.
  
  
• The top three employers of recent college grads are: retail stores, call centers, and restaurants.
  
  
• Labor force underutilization rates are 27.6% for adults aged 20-24; 20% for adults 25-29; and 17.6% for adults 30-34. “Underutilization” includes workers who are unemployed, under-employed, or not currently looking but would work if a job were available.
  
  
• Among high school dropouts, the underutilization rates is 35.1%; 20.5% for high school graduates; 16.7% for adults with some college; 10.3% for adults with a Bachelor’s degree; and only 7.1% for adults with a Master’s.
  
  
• Most sobering of all, the likelihood of being underutilized is 85% for 16-19-year-old black male high school dropouts with a family income under $20K. This contrasts with a predicted underutilization rate of 6/10% for women ages 55-64, white, and with a family income of $100K.

The numbers paint a bleak picture for adults with only a high school diploma and for low-to-moderate income workers. The numbers also confirm the relationship between higher education, employability, income, and community success. For the last six years MaineCF has focused its attention on the need to get more Maine people back to college. This data suggests an increasing urgency in our work!