This news comes 25 months after President Barack Obama signed a stimulus law designed to keep the U.S. unemployment rate under 8 percent. Gallup derives what it calls the “underemployment” rate by combining the percentage of unemployed workers with the percentage of workers who are employed only part-time but want a full-time job.
As of mid-March, Gallup reported in its new survey, 10.2 percent of American workers were unemployed and 9.7 percent were working part-time but wanted a full-time job. That equals an underemployment rate of 19.9 percent—or approximately one out of every five workers.
According to Gallup, the employment picture in the United States is virtually unchanged from a year ago. In mid-March 2010, 10.3 percent of American workers were unemployed and 9.7 percent were working part-time but wanted a full-time job--yielding an underemployment rate of 20.0 percent. That compares to todayÂ’s 19.9 percent underemployment rate.
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