UNDERNEWS: Millions of Americans Are ‘Functionally Unemployed'

January 27, 2026

Millions of Americans Are ‘Functionally Unemployed'

Newsweek - Employment researchers are warning that the share of Americans who are only loosely attached to the labor force is on the rise, and that the true rate of unemployment may be far higher than official figures suggest.

According to a new report from the Ludwig Institute for Shared Economic Prosperity (LISEP), 25.2 percent of the U.S. workforce could now be classified as "functionally unemployed"—meaning jobless, seeking but unable to secure full-time employment or earning "poverty-level wages." This marks an increase from 24.8 percent in November and, as LISEP notes, represents the highest "True Rate of Employment"—or TRU—since June 2021.

"Looking beyond monthly fluctuations, the broader labor market trends warrant close attention," LISEP Chair Gene Ludwig said. "The share of workers who are functionally unemployed has risen over the past year and returned to post-pandemic highs, pointing to ongoing challenges in access to full-time, living-wage employment."

1 comment:

Strelnikov said...: Without good state funding for unemployment, capitalism cannot work properly or even at all. Until Trump goes away, the work of dragging the United States towards a social democracy will never be done, and culturally America will slide deeper into a quasi-medieval form of life.; January 27, 2026 at 11:59 AM

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The Review is edited by Sam Smith, who covered Washington under nine presidents, has edited the Progressive Review and its predecessors since 1964, wrote four books, been published in five anthologies, helped to start five organizations (including the DC Humanities Council and the DC Statehood Party), was a plaintiff in three successful class action suits, served as a Coast Guard officer, and played in jazz bands for four decades.

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