Laid offs lose nearly 2.8 years of income over the rest of their working lives

Even in relative good times, laid-off workers take a huge financial hit as a result of their involuntary job losses. In a recent study, scholars at the University of Chicago and Columbia University found that men ages 50 and under who were laid off when the nation’s unemployment rate stood below 6 percent could expect to lose the equivalent of 1.4 years of income over the rest of their working lives. That’s money they otherwise could have expected to earn had they been able to continue on their former career trajectories, before layoffs forced them to take jobs that paid less.

And when the unemployment rate exceeds 8 percent, as it did from early 2009 until this September, those thrown out of work lose a staggering 2.8 years of income over the rest of their working lives.

These insights help explain why demand is unusually high — three years after the Great Recession formally ended — for emergency food and shelter.

Across the U.S., the number of homeless and hungry people is growing, according to a recent survey by the U.S. Conference of Mayors.

All of us have heard story after story about how families long rooted in the middle class have found themselves without a roof over their heads. More than half of the cities, including Chicago, reported that homelessness had increased. Requests for emergency food assistance rose from the previous year in 21 of the 25 cities surveyed, again including Chicago.

Choosen excerpts by Job Market Monitor from

via The recession that keeps on taking – chicagotribune.com.