Penna. Construction unemployment at 37%

The national unemployment rate for construction jobs is 21%, but in the state of Penna. it comes in at an eyeball-popping 37%. This figure is too low. 50% to 60% is a more truthful figure. Since 70% of all economic activity is consumer spending, little wonder the economy is stagnant. Consumers are not spending. The middle class is imploding. Those with decent paying jobs are not secure they won't get laid off. Those who are unemployed will remain jobless. In the present state of the job market, management is in total control. Those who are hired can expect to work longer hours for less wages and benefits, if any benefits. Wages are headed down. In a construction trade or job, expect to compete with non-American labor willing to work for peanuts. Skilled trades are performing more for the same, at best. Competition can be likened to a pack of starving hyenas fighting over a rotting carcass. The demand for skilled labor is a trickle. And all of this is because the greed of the sub-prime mortgage lenders caused The Great Recession, The Financial Meltdown, and the rest of it. Forget about seeing another new-home construction boom in this lifetime. Sad but true, the independent tradesman is staring at extinction.