Lost in all the unemployment headlines is the fact that underemployment in the United States has now reached its highest recorded level. Underemployment hit 14% in January 2009 and that figure is significantly understated.
A quick look at the US Government's measurement reveals why.
The underemployed includes three population groups:
1. Unemployed workers (increasing at an alarming pace of 600,000 downsized employees a month).
2. Jobless workers who are no longer actively seeking employment ("marginally attached" workers).
3. Part-time employees seeking full-time work ("involuntary" part-time workers).
What is noticeably missing in this measurement are the millions of full-time workers who are overqualified (and likely underpaid) for the work they are currently doing.
How many professionals with advanced degrees are now accepting hourly labor to have full-time work? How many employees have more experience than their manager? Or, for that matter, have more experience than their manager's boss?
As a social media experiment, I have started a Facebook group called "I am UNDERemployed in America. Stand Up and be Counted" to give a voice to the millions of underemployed workers in America.
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