Real unemployment shows some people still struggling to find work
Houston - The nation's latest jobs report suggests most people who need a job can find one. At 3.5 percent, unemployment is at a 50-year low.
There is, also, encouraging news for those still struggling to find work. While the "official" unemployment rate only counts people out of work who've looked for a job in the last four weeks, the so-called 'real' unemployment rate adds those who work part-time and those who've stopped looking for a job. That number is 6.7 percent, and is the lowest since the government started measuring it.
It's great news, unless you're one of those people.
As far as the government is concerned, Kristin Tranum is unemployed.
The Danish native came to Houston in 1996 as an IT expert. She found, at some point, job interviews ended without an offer or such laughably-low money, it wasn't even work considering.
"Being a manager at a grocery store... I will earn more, being a manager at a grocery store, than what I would earn doing what I'm doing right now," says Tranum.
As Tranum, largely, stopped looking for work in the U.S., she discovered she could stay in Houston and sell her expertise to foreign companies willing to pay her much better, as a consultant. "I am currently working in four different languages: four different countries," says Tranum.
Workforce Solutions economist Patrick Harvey says "finding" work does require persistence. Harvey says, while "real" unemployment sits at a historic low, it still represents 11 million people in the country. It is a stubborn challenge for those still in that group, to find a meaningful paycheck.
"They're some of the most challenging individuals to help, for various reasons," says Harvey, "It may be simply a function of age, experience; but we certainly work with them to try to find opportunities for them in our region."
Harvey adds advice for people still looking or work: to consider learning new skills, doing a collection of smaller jobs, or even moving to where work can be found.