PODCAST: Unemployment

David Weinberger / June 07, 2011

In a recent Heritage in Focus, Heritage expert James Sherk discusses the recent unemployment report. Listen to the full podcast, here.

The recent jobs report released was extraordinary. For the first time in its history, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) found that the average length of unemployment was nearly 40 weeks – the longest average ever.

Layoffs don’t account for such high unemployment, however. Believe it or not, our economy lost more jobs during the 2001 recession than we did during the 2008 recession.

So what’s driving high unemployment?

The lack of job creation. (more…)