US long-term unemployment in 2011 hits 60-year high
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E-mail Xinhua, May 25, 2012
At no time in the last 60 years had the U.S. long-term unemployment been so high for so long as it was in 2011, said a Chinese report on the U.S. human rights record released on Friday.
The Human Rights Record of the United States in 2011, issued by the State Council Information Office of the People's Republic of China, said the U.S. has not done enough to protect its citizens from unemployment, and that it has been one of the western developed countries that provide the poorest protection over laborer's rights.
The United States has not yet approved any international labor organization convention in the last 10 years, and lacks effective arbitration system to deal with enterprises that refuse to make compromise with the employees, the report said.
The report said that 13.3 million people were officially unemployed and 5.7 million of them had been out of work for more than six months.
The average unemployment rate was 8.9 percent for 2011, and the unemployment rate for American youth between 25 and 34 stood at 26 percent in October of that year, with more underemployed, the report said.
A total of 84 metropolitan areas reported jobless rates of at least 10.0 percent, and El Centro, California, recorded the highest unemployment rate of 29.6 percent in September of 2011, the report said, adding that the unemployed people suffered from not only financial pressures but also mental pressures including anxiety and depression.
The United States is the world's richest country, but quite a lot of Americans still lack guarantee for their economic, social and cultural rights that are necessary for personal dignity and self-development, said the report.
The financial crisis was far from being the sole reason for the inadequate guarantee of Americans'economic, social and cultural rights, and the problems concerning human rights are the reflection of the U.S. ideology and political system that ignore people's economic, social and culture rights, the report said.
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