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Unemployment Rises…But Not as Bad as Some Had Feared

This past Friday and Saturday every media outlet was rife with the news that unemployment is up to the worse levels since 2004. Since most of don’t actually remember much about 2004, the new percentage of unemployed is 5.7% nationally and 6.8% here in California. Unemployment figures for Hispanic workers was recently reported at 7.3% I suppose that stands to reason with so many Hispanic workers related to the construction and home improvement industries.

So what does this mean? It means nearly 6% of us are looking for a job. More succinctly, that is only the 5.8% listed, as opposed to the percentage that has in some way fallen off the rolls. This is bad, no doubt. But it has been worse. In fact, it has been a lot worse. So the message is mixed. On one hand the pundits tell us how terrible it is, and on the other they are claiming it is less than predicted.

It’s like when you were little and came down with a fever or one of the many childhood disease we encounter, your mother would tell you that you were sick and must stay in bed. But while you have a fever, cough and feel absolutely terrible, it’s not as bad as the kind down the block who just lost his belly button to leprosy.

So where are we really? We are in transition. We are in a phase in this country when we will move from developing what is now the older technologies to developing alternate energy forms and ways to clean up the environment. These are not just a matter of consciousness, well, maybe they are, but that’s not what drives the train. Developing alternate energy and cleaning the environment will be the industries of the future.

It is up to we Americans to advance the technology. It is us to we American to make the breakthroughs. Because we know for sure the Chinese aren’t going to do it. I’m sure by now you have all seen the photos of what the skies over Olympic read Beijing look like. The Indians won’t do it; nor will the Russians. And you can forget about the Taliban. So it is up to us.

As a background checking company Corra Group has its own self interest in seeing a brisker job market. But more importantly, we don’t wish to see people in this country suffer from the high cost of living and the scarcity of employment. We do believe that, as tough as it may appear, as our mothers used to tell us, this too shall pass.

By Gordon Basichis

Gordon Basichis is the Co-Founder of Corra Group, specializing in pre-employment background checks and corporate research. He has been a marketing and media executive and has worked in the entertainment industry, the financial, health care and technology sectors. He is the author of the best selling Beautiful Bad Girl, The Vicki Morgan Story, a non-fiction novel that helped define exotic sexuality in the late twentieth century. He is the author of the Constant Travellers and has recently completed a new book, The Guys Who Spied for China, dealing with Chinese Espionage in the United States. He has been a journalist for several newspapers and is a screenwriter and producer.