LOS ANGELES — Forty-seven percent of unemployed Americans say they’ve given up on looking for work, according to a poll commissioned by staffing firm Express Employment Professionals.
More than half say looking for work has been more difficult than expected; only two in 10 currently receive unemployment benefits.
Among the rest, nearly a third aren’t eligible and 30 percent never applied, according to the data, which was collected by Harris Poll from April 9 to 21 from among 1,500 unemployed adults.
The jobless rate nationwide dropped to 6.3 percent last month — the lowest level since 2008 — as the nation added 288,000 jobs, according to the government.
A plurality of poll respondents — 45 percent — said they blame the economy most of all for their situation. Nearly 20 percent point to their last boss; 36 percent consider themselves personally responsible.
Nearly half said they hadn’t been on a job interview in the prior month. The percentage soars to 71 percent among those unemployed for more than two years.
The last time Kenneth Phillips, 55, had a full-time job was in 2007, when he worked for a parking company that ultimately laid him off when the recession hit.
He tried to launch a maintenance business in 2011 but his credit score was too low. Last week, he received a letter from a credit union denying his application for a credit card.
Now, he’s living in Section 8 housing downtown — which he calls “a blessing” — and subsisting on various forms of public assistance. There’s $221 a month from the county for bus fare, rent and essentials such as soap; $189 comes via food stamps.
A too-small paycheck from a short maintenance gig last year barred him from qualifying for unemployment benefits, he said.
He’s sent 20 job applications in the last six months—and has received one reply.
“It’s not happening for me,” he said. “Unless I have a masters or a Ph.D. that allows me to make $50,000 a year with a good job, I’ll be looking at $8 an hour.”
The poll Wednesday found that many jobless Americans are reluctant to make significant changes to boost their chances of landing a job.
Nearly two-thirds said they don’t plan to go back to school to make themselves more marketable; 44 percent said they wouldn’t relocate to another city for a job. Thirty-six percent said they spent no more than five hours looking for work in the prior week.
Jobless benefits may be tamping down any sense of urgency. Nearly three-quarters of respondents said they consider unemployment compensation to be a cushion; nearly half said they didn’t search as hard as they could have for openings because of the funds.
