Lost Jobs, Lower Wages

In January every two years, the Bureau of Labor Statistics surveys displaced workers. Findings from the January 2010 Displaced Worker Survey are analyzed in the September issue of the Monthly Labor Review. Displaced workers are those who lost or left their job during the past three years. For the January 2010 survey, they were workers displaced between January 2007 and December 2009--during the Great Recession. The Monthly Labor Review analysis focuses on the 6.9 million "long-tenured" displaced workers--those who had worked at the same job for three or more years. Some of the disturbing findings:

Only 49 percent of long-tenured displaced workers were reemployed by January 2010, the lowest level recorded by any Displaced Worker Survey, which date back to January 1984.

Fully 55 percent of reemployed long-tenured displaced workers were earning less than they had earned at the job they lost.

Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, "Characteristics of displaced workers 2007-2009: a visual essay, Monthly Labor Review, September 2011