Work - Full-time, Part-time

It's been a long year. I've been watching the employment figures, which make no sense compared to the people I know. According to the stats on unemployment, we are improving steadily.

But, when I compare that "improvement" with people I know to be looking for work - the numbers just don't match.

Certainly, SOME people are improving their situation. I've gotten a job in the last year, my husband has likewise moved from unsteady part-time jobs to full-time. Even my son, a young man in the middle of the Guess-what-just-fell-in-on-me group of White, skilled semi-unemployed males, has FINALLY moved to a full-time job.

They liked him at work - they just couldn't afford to pay him more, or give him more hours, until their business improved. Which, finally, it has.

But, we're the exceptions. Most long-term unemployed or underemployed are NOT finding full-time work.

For Conservatives, the answer is self-evidently Obamacare. Liberals dispute this.

Perhaps this graphic below will make the connection clear.