Physical, mental health issues named top cause of US unemployment
A new survey of United States workers found that 30 percent of unemployed respondents cited physical health as the cause of their joblessness, while 15 percent cited mental health issues.
One of the more baffling questions surrounding the labour
market recovery in the United States is the mismatch between a near-record
number of job openings and the paucity of workers willing to fill them.
A new survey published on Monday by global consultancy
McKinsey and Company is shedding light on one of the major drivers keeping
workers on the sidelines: health issues.
According to McKinsey’s latest American Opportunity Survey,
nearly half of jobless workers canvassed said health issues were the main cause
of their unemployment, with 30 percent saying they had to leave work because of
physical health issues, and 15 percent citing mental health issues.
Both metrics marked an increase over March, when the first
survey was conducted.
The third most commonly cited reason was the need to take
care of children or elderly relatives, which 12 percent of respondents said
best described the cause of their unemployment.
But the headline metric concealed big differences, said
McKinsey.
Jobless workers with children at home were 2.4 times more
likely to cite caregiving as the reason for their unemployment, while Asian
Americans were three times more likely than people of other races or
ethnicities to cite taking care of family for keeping them out of the jobs
market.
“As we found in the inaugural American Opportunity Survey,
in March, this new survey reminds us of the substantial—and stubbornly
persistent—barriers preventing many Americans from having a more equitable,
prosperous future,” said McKinsey. “In particular, the lack of access to
healthcare, mental-health care, and (for parents and caregivers) to childcare
represent thorny challenges that leaders in all sectors may wish to
prioritize.”
Some 11 million jobs went begging in the US in October –
within a hair’s breadth of the 11.1 million record job openings seen in July –
while 4.2 million Americas felt so good about their employment prospects that
they quit their jobs.
The sheer number of job openings has given workers the upper
hand over businesses for the first time in decades, and they are wielding that
power to secure better pay and benefits before signing on the dotted line.
But higher business costs stemming from a shortage of
workers and raw materials are chipping away at household budgets, as firms pass
on at least part of those increases to consumers.
US consumer prices rocketed 6.8 percent in November – the
biggest annual gain in nearly 40 years. Meanwhile, average hourly wages last
month rose 4.8 percent for all workers – meaning pay bumps are falling behind
inflation.
The Federal Reserve has been prioritising getting Americans
back to work during the economic recovery over keeping a lid on price pressures
because it has viewed this year’s inflation spike as a temporary consequence of
coronavirus pandemic disruptions.
But Fed chief Jerome Powell recently signalled a shift is
under way in the Fed’s thinking, telling US lawmakers that the Fed could
accelerate its unwinding of bond purchases that have helped keep longer-term
borrowing costs low. A faster tapering could prepare the ground for an
inflation-cooling interest rate hike sooner than expected.
The Fed is scheduled to have its final two-day
policy-setting meeting of the year this week.
Deeper dive
The latest McKinsey Opportunities Survey was conducted in
the fall and polled a cross-section of 5,000 Americans.
It revealed that though workers are slightly more upbeat
about their current opportunities than they were in March, they are less sanguine
about future growth over the next five years.
Declines in optimism were most pronounced among African
American, Latino and Asian respondents, as well as those from lower-income
households and urban and rural areas.
Nearly half of those surveyed said that their personal
financial situations had become more precarious, with only 48 percent saying
that they could cover more than two months of expenses if they lost their jobs
– a fall of 2 percentage points since March.
A lack of affordable healthcare and health insurance was
cited as the greatest barrier to wellbeing.
While nearly half of respondents said that most Americans
have opportunities to find good jobs – a seven percentage point increase over
March – unemployed respondents said that limited job availability was the
biggest barrier in their job search.
McKinsey said the findings suggest that “some workers are
avoiding widely available entry-level jobs to search for others, perhaps with
more pay or flexibility”.
But the survey also suggested that a lack of reskilling and
upskilling options is an obstacle.
The second most-cited barrier to finding a job was the need
for skills and education.
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