by Calculated Risk on 9/16/2009 05:25:00 PM

From the UCLA News today:

Sluggish overall growth is predicted [in a report titled "The Long Goodbye," by UCLA Anderson Forecast], as the [national] unemployment rate will be above 10 percent well into next year.

And in the UK from The Times: Record one in five young people out of work

The number of young people out of work hit a record 947,000 in July as total unemployment in Britain hit 2.47 million.

Official data today showed that the number of jobless 16 to 24-year-olds jumped by nearly 60,000 in the three months to July to the highest level since 1992, when records began.

That figure translates to a record 19.7 per cent - also the highest since records began - meaning that one in five people in that age bracket is looking for work.
...
Total unemployment hit a 13-year high of 2.47 million as more than 210,000 people lost their jobs, sending the jobless rate back to 1996 levels of 7.9 per cent.

And from the NY Times: High Jobless Rates Could Last Years, O.E.C.D. Warns

Unless government programs for the unemployed are refined, there is a danger that high jobless rates will persist beyond 2010 in advanced economies, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development warned on Wednesday.

“A recovery may be in sight,” the group said in its annual employment outlook, referring to economic output. “But the short-term employment outlook is grim.”

The international organization said that unemployment among its 30 member nations would rise to nearly 10 percent by the end of 2010, above its previous post-1970 peak of 7.5 percent during the second quarter of 1993.

In the U.S., Rep. Jim McDermott, D-Wash and Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I. have offered bills in the House and Senate to extend unemployment benefits again. However this proposed extension would only be for any additional 13 weeks for people in high-unemployment states, and many workers will exhaust those claims early in the new year.

I expect to see a double digit unemployment rate within the next few months, and with below trend GDP growth, I expect double digit unemployment rates through most of 2010.