One last comment on the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ (BLS) employment and unemployment data release on Friday, I promise. I haven’t seen any comments on the “Long Term Unemployed.” These are people who have been unemployed for more than 27 weeks.

According to the release, there were just under 5 million people (4,934,000) who had been unemployed more that 27 weeks in July. This is up over 700,000 from June’s 4,218,000. It is up over 3 million from the previous year. Those are big increases, and they explain why we saw the big increase in “Discouraged Workers.” These are people who have left the workforce, because they see no chance for employment. Their leaving resulted in the decline in the unemployment rate.

Twenty-seven weeks is a long time to be unemployed, long enough to result in the unmeasured costs of unemployment. These include broken families, domestic violence, drug and alcohol abuse, crime, and the like. Lives have been ruined, as many of these people may never again be part of the mainstream economy.

About a quarter million Americans lost their job in July. Almost another three-quarter of a million moved to Long-Term-Unemployed status. I’m having a hard time understanding how this is good news.