(The Economic Collapse Blog)—Do you ever feel like you are “functionally unemployed”? If so, you are definitely not alone. There are lots of people out there that cannot pay the bills each month even though they have jobs. In fact, there are lots of people out there that literally cannot afford to put a roof over their heads even though they are employed.
Yes, there are many hard working Americans that are now living in their vehicles or in “tent communities” because that is all they can afford. In recent years, the cost of living has been rising much faster than paychecks have, and so now a substantial percentage of the population is living in a state of constant financial stress. The middle class has been collapsing all around us, and we are witnessing an extraordinary amount of economic suffering all over the country right now.
For years, the federal government has been telling us that the unemployment rate in the U.S. is very low.
Everyone knows that is a bunch of hogwash.
According to a report that was recently released by the Ludwig Institute for Shared Economic Prosperity, the true rate of unemployment in the U.S. was 24.3 percent last month…
But another indicator suggests those pieces of government data may be painting an overly rosy picture of the economy, with a recent report from the Ludwig Institute for Shared Economic Prosperity (LISEP) finding the “true rate” of unemployment stood at 24.3% in April, up slightly from 24% in March, while the official Bureau of Labor Statistics rate remained unchanged at 4.2% over the same period.
LISEP’s measure encompasses not only unemployed workers, but also people who are looking for work but can’t find full-time employment, as well as those stuck in poverty-wage jobs. By tracking functionally unemployed workers, the measure seeks to capture labor market nuances that other economic indicators miss, such as Americans who are left behind during periods of economic expansion.
Today, there are millions upon millions of Americans that are “functionally unemployed”.
According to Gene Ludwig, you can literally “be homeless and in a tent community and have worked one hour” and be counted as “employed” by the federal government…
“The unemployment data, as it’s put out, has some flaws,” LISEP chairman Gene Ludwig told CBS MoneyWatch. “For example, it counts you as employed if you’ve worked as little as one hour over the prior two weeks. So you can be homeless and in a tent community and have worked one hour and be counted, irrespective of how poorly-paid that hour may be.”
I know that a lot of you can really identify with what I am talking about in this article, because you are experiencing deep economic pain on a daily basis.
Earlier this month, I heard from a reader that is essentially “functionally unemployed” at this point. I asked him if I could share an excerpt from his email to me with all of you, and he gave me permission. If you are suffering too, hopefully his story will help you to realize that you aren’t alone…
Last year my income was $19,000. If I didn’t have a mortgage/rent free house to live in, I would be homeless!!!
I try to stock up on food when ever my local Grocery Store puts items on sale.
I shop at Thrift Stores and only on the half price days.
In 8 years my Real Estate Taxes have gone from $1,400 to $2,000.
In 8 years my Real Estate Insurance has gone from $1,500 to $2,200.
I haven’t had a Vacation in DECADES!!!
I seldom eat out.
I drive a 40 year old Pickup with 220,000 miles on it.
I try to combine errands and shopping in one trip to conserve on gasoline and not put as many miles on my old Pickup.
During the hot summer months I take a shower out of the end of a garden hose to cut my water bill.
I wear my clothes day after day until they get so dirty I can’t stand it or they start to stink.
I can only dream about living a normal American middle class lifestyle.
I hear of people making $100,000 a year and how they cannot pay their bills. MY GOODNESS MAN, I WOULD CONSIDER MYSELF RICH IF I COULD MAKE $100K A YEAR!!!!!!
Countless others are living a similar lifestyle.
As I discussed earlier this month, one survey discovered that 70 percent of Americans are the most financially stressed that they have ever been in their entire lives.
And the cost of living just continues to soar.
In fact, the average price of a pound of ground beef just surged to another brand new record high…
The average cost of one pound of ground beef reached a record-high of $5.80 in April, according to numbers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That is up nearly 50% from five years ago.
Ouch. Our cost of living crisis never seems to end.
Inflation is one of the primary reasons why consumer sentiment in the U.S. just hit the second lowest level ever recorded…
The index of consumer sentiment dropped to 50.8, down from 52.2 in April, in the preliminary reading for May. That is the second-lowest reading on record, behind June 2022.
The outlook for price changes also moved in the wrong direction. Year-ahead inflation expectations rose to 7.3% from 6.5% last month, while long-term inflation expectations ticked up to 4.6% from 4.4%.
And the outlook for the months ahead is not promising at all.
Last month, the Conference Board’s index of leading economic indicators fell for a fifth month in a row…
The short-term outlook for the U.S. economy worsened significantly in April, according to the Conference Board’s latest Leading Economic Index (LEI).
On Monday, the D.C.-based research said that the index—a closely monitored composite of several economic indicators—had fallen by 1.0 percent to 99.4 in April, registering the fifth consecutive monthly decline and the steepest drop since March 2023. Over the six months ending in April 2025, the LEI fell by two percent, matching the pace of decline posted over the previous six months.
Let me try to end this article on a positive note.
If you are “functionally unemployed”, I know that it is tough right now.
In this difficult economic environment, we are all just going to have to get lean and mean.
Do your best to try to earn as much money as you can, and once you have got it hold on to it very tightly.
The middle class has been getting eviscerated for years, but we must never give up.
It won’t be easy, but if you are willing to fight you can survive in this economy.
Just keep putting one foot in front of the other every day, and just keep looking for more opportunities to make things better for you and your family.
Michael’s new book entitled “10 Prophetic Events That Are Coming Next” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com, and you can subscribe to his Substack newsletter at michaeltsnyder.substack.com.
Why One Survival Food Company Shines Above the Rest
Let’s be real. “Prepper Food” or “Survival Food” is generally awful. The vast majority of companies that push their cans, bags, or buckets desperately hope that their customers never try them and stick them in the closet or pantry instead. Why? Because if the first time they try them is after the crap hits the fan, they’ll be too shaken to call and complain about the quality.
It’s true. Most long-term storage food is made with the cheapest possible ingredients with limited taste and even less nutritional value. This is why they tout calories so much. Sure, they provide calories but does anyone really want to go into the apocalypse with food their family can’t stand?
This is what prompted the Llewellyns to launch Heaven’s Harvest. They bought survival food from multiple companies and determined they couldn’t imagine being stuck in an extended emergency with such low-quality food. They quickly discovered that freeze drying food for long-term storage doesn’t have to mean sacrificing flavor, consistency, or nutrition.
Their ingredients are all-American. In fact, they’re locally sourced and all-natural! This allows their products to be the highest quality on the market, so good that their customers often break open a bag in a pinch to eat because they want to, not just because they have to due to an emergency.
At Heaven’s Harvest, their only focus is amazing food. They don’t sell bugout bags, solar chargers, or multitools. They have one mission – feeding Americans in times of crisis.
What they DO offer is the ability for people to thrive in times of greatest need. On top of long-term storage food, they offer seeds to help Americans for the truly long-term. They want them to grow their own food if possible which is why they offer only Heirloom, Non-GMO, Non-Hybrid, Open-Pollinated seeds so their customers can build permanent food security on their own property.
And it’s because the uniparty actors in congress create wasted debt on purpose to eventually collapse the system and usher in a new socialist world government that will act as a protector of the large product monopolies. There’s many ways to stop them but to me one really stands out. Market identity. [We could require corporate brand names to be non transferable] This means that giant “globalist” corporations could no longer fool the public by displaying the familiar wholesome product names of the product brands they buy up. It’s just numbers to them. “Those bottles of French’s mustard and Frank’s Red hot should be named McCormick’s mustard and McCormick’s Red Hot”. Those “Quaker” Oats should now be called Pepsi Oats! I wonder how long that would work for when half the grocery products end up with a Pepsi label on them. People would see it as it is. A monopoly. Our unexplainable debt is a tactic of war being used against us.
The number one plan, the main objective from the start of the globalist (democrats) was and is to destroy the American middle class.
Our middle class of citizen is the power and driving force of our freedoms and nation. A middle class like our does not exist anywhere else in the world. And never has before.
Destroying the middle class working Americans will reduce this nation to a system of the elite and toiling poor to support the self serving elite. Like the rest of the world.
“We The People” changed that and birthed our freedom April of 1774. Let’s keep that freedom.
Everything the Government has told you, at least since the 40’s is a lie. It’s no different than network news.
More people with a wealth of job experience especially in the engineering fields are losing their jobs as multinational companies lay off us based employees for foreign based engineers.
Now instead of hiring h1 visa holders in the US, companies are hiring people in located in India, especially for jobs that can be done remotely. I am one such affected person.
The additional demeaning insult is that for the next 3 months I will be training people to take over my job. If I don’t, then I will lose severance and the extended health benefits. Something needs to be done to keep jobs in America.
America has already sent all the manufacturing jobs to China, almost all of the software development to India and soon all of the engineering expertise will be gone too. People hate Trump for what he is doing to the economy, but It now seems maybe it is what has to be done.
It’s the shot, they are hiding the number of American’s sick and dying from taking it and the Shedding on everyone from those who took it.