Business

Middle class bearing the brunt of joblessness

The Great Recession continues to take its toll on America’s middle class.

Corporate America, in its struggle to stay afloat during this historic downturn, is decimating its middle manager ranks in unprecedented numbers, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Traditional white-collar layoffs have increased 56 percent since the recession began in December 2007, according to the official employment numbers, and the numbers are growing, with the current level of unemployment for employees with some college education hovering at 9.7 percent, just below the national level.

“Many companies are consolidating the middle-managers’ roles and cutting others,” said John Challenger, of placement firm Challenger, Gray and Christmas. “We are also seeing managers moving down the chain to stay employed,” he added.

Data from the BLS may shed some light on the disappearing middle manager, with the national unemployment number at 9.7 percent for August. The adult male jobless level is at 10.1 percent, while the women’s figure is 7.6 percent, according to the BLS data.

“We’re in a very deep jobs crisis, and we’re not coming out of it,” says William George, a Harvard Business School professor. “It’s too glib to say that jobs are a lagging indicator” and that hiring will return to normal with a recovering economy, he said.

Some of these white-collar jobs may never be filled.

“In order for companies to move from ‘survival mode’ to expansion mode could be years. These firms have many project-based consultants to bring on board, before they hire back the laid-off managers,” Challenger said.

Locally, the commuter railroads, which service bedroom communities where white-collar managers live, have seen sizable decreases in ridership over the last year.

Both the Long Island Rail Road and Metro North reported 7 percent to 9 percent declines in ridership in May compared with the previous year. New Jersey Transit does not report monthly ridership numbers, but is believed to be seeing comparable deductions.

The one bright spot in the latest government numbers suggests that for workers with at least a four-year college degree, the unemployment level is almost half that of workers with a two-year degree or less college.


mgray@nypost.com