Jobs: Today’s Reality, Tomorrow’s Forecast

The President’s office recently suggested that nationwide unemployment could reach 11% and get worse. Seven months ago the same office promised a maximum of 8% unemployment. The Atlanta Fed chief Dennis Lockhart just announced, “If one considers the people who would like a job but have stopped looking — so-called discouraged workers — and those who are working fewer hours than they want, the unemployment rate would move from the official 9.4 percent to 16 percent.” The April 2009 issue of Fortune magazine stated, “1/3 of the U.S. population will be unemployed, underemployed, or working part-time when they would rather be full-time.”

Where do you think we are headed in the next six months? Twelve months? Two years?

Do you believe this trend is worldwide?

If you live outside the U.S., how is your local area doing? What do you predict for your neck of the woods?