Summary:
The underemployed people are typically underutilized and underpaid workers earning a fraction of what they've earned in the past, even though they have years of demonstrated work experience. Usually they used to be either engineers, programmers, and managers who now work in grocery stores, book stores, or anywhere that has a low paying job position. The rate of underemployed people has gone up from Jan 2011 till now in the US, and this is a great measure of what the economy is really like. People who are underemployed cut their spending, which reduces demand and spins the economy further into a recession. The underemployed also negatively affect tax revenues and create more budget problems for governments. It is expected for the rates to improve eventually but this probably won't happen till another few years to come.
Connection:
After reading about three economic indicators for this chapter, unmployment being one of them, it's a very reliable one because it does not consider the underemployed. The underemployed have part-time jobs, or jobs that they are overqualified for, therefore they are never included in the unemployment rate calculation, making it inaccurate. Even though the enderemployment people already have jobs and are considered to be hired, they are usually full more capable of earning more than their current wages.
Reflection:
I think underemployment should really be fixed by the government as soon as possible. It's not fair for the people who are earning a lower wage than what they could be potentially earning and also, it's not helping out the economy in anyway either, other than destroying it.
http://www.suite101.com/content/underemployment-the-unseen-faces-of-the-recession-a350480
