On Friday, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics released a report that found that just 56 percent of the 6.1 million workers who were laid off January 2009 to December 2011 from jobs they previously held for at least three years have since found work. And over half of those now earn less money than they did previously. Worse, a third of those experienced steep pay cuts of 20 percent or higher.
The causes of the 6.1 million “long-tenured” job losses varied. Forty percent cited “insufficient work” as the reason for their displacement. Thirty-one percent said their plant or company had been relocated or gone out of business. Roughly 20 percent of the losses were occurred in the manufacturing sector.
The report also noted that during the same period, an additional 6.7 million people had lost jobs they had held for less than three years.
Job losses for short and long-tenured positions totaled 12.9 million workers.