A sobering reminder from Gallup that despite the Administration’s unwavering focus on health-care, the job market is still a long ways from recovering:
Gallup’s underemployment measure hit 20.0% on March 15 — up from 19.7% two weeks earlier and 19.5% at the start of the year. Gallup Daily tracking makes it possible to monitor the underemployment rate throughout the month, rather than just once per month, making it the best and most timely way to measure the U.S. jobs situation.
Underemployment, January-March 2010 (Rolling 30-Day Averages at the Beginning of the Month and at Mid-Month)
The findings underscore why Americans say the most important problem facing the nation today is jobs and unemployment. Gallup’s underemployment measure is based on more than 20,000 phone interviews collected over a 30-day period and reported daily. Gallup’s results are not seasonally adjusted and tend to be a precursor of government reports by approximately two weeks.
