Tuesday evening the Jamaica Plain Neighborhood Development Corporation, JobNet, and the JP Community Centers Adult Learning Program hosted a career fair at English High.

Even though recently there has been a light drop in unemployment, worker idling levels nation-wide continue at historic highs.

Against this backdrop, several organizations in JP are assisting people with finding jobs.

The Adult Learning Program of the Jamaica Plain Community Centers “is a community-based adult education program dedicated to the empowerment of adults in advocating for themselves, their families and their communities through the provision of free basic education, ESOL [English for Speakers of Other Languages] and high school diploma programs,” according the organization's website.

JPNDC is based in the Brewery and runs a variety of community development programs including community organizing, assistance to small businesses, housing buying education, affordable housing development, and others.

Various JPNDC staffers were in attendance helping participants to register and directing them to the appropriate prospective employers.

JobNet is a one-stop career center located at 210 South St. in Chinatown, but it assists job seekers citywide. Business Service Representative Ed Crognalo said that "In addition to the 28 employers represented, there others that are too small to have a stand at the event, but JobNet has information about their openings. These include positions in child care, fork lift operator, and metal worker."

Some of the employers represented include Aerotek, Tufts University, Peace Corps, South End Community Health Center, Big Sister Association, NSTAR, Maloney Properties, Mass Biological Laboratories, New England Aquarium, Catholic Charities and Labouré Center, Roxbury Community College, and others, offering jobs covering the whole spectrum from basic support services to professional positions.

Not only local jobs are available. Jessi Flynn, representing the Peace Corps, spoke in English and Spanish about job opprtunties with the Corps in different parts of the world, including Panama where she served.

For more information about employers, training, and educational programs, contact JPNDC at 617-524-2424 or ktorrez@jpndc.org.

Real unemployment could be higher than 9.2 percent

Unemployment is reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which considers unemployed only people receiving unemployment benefits. The latest figures show nationwide unemployment at 9.2 percent. However, once your unemployment check runs out you are not part of the official unemployment figures any longer. Neither does it include the partially employed, contractors, or those making a living in the informal economy.

If all categories of unemployment and under-employment are considered, the true unemployment rate could be much higher, according to several analysts. Some counties in California have about one-fourth of the population unemployed.

The current unemployment situation differs from previous ones in that now we are facing long-term unemployment. In the past there was unemployment generated by business cycles. Now we have entire industries disappearing such as automotive, and many manufacturing activities have been exported overseas with no hope of returning any time soon. Some workers in those industries might retrain to qualify for employment in other areas of the economy but the vast majority face long-term idleness.

Youth unemployment

Even before the financial meltdown close to 50 percent of youth 16-19 years-old were unemployed nationwide. Many, even with a college degree, haven't held a permanent position in their entire lives. Some analysts like Gerald Celente don't see any increase in job creation in the near future.

Google has a service that easily shows unemployment statistics state by state.

According to former Labor Secretary and prolific author Robert Reich: “Since the start of the Great Recession in December 2007, the U.S. economy has shed 8.4 million jobs and failed to create another 2.7 million required by an ever-larger pool of potential workers. That leaves us more than 11 million jobs behind. (The number is worse if you include everyone working part-time who’d rather it be full-time, those working full-time at fewer hours, and people who are overqualified for the jobs they’re in.)

This means even if we enjoy a vigorous recovery that produces, say, 300,000 net new jobs a month, we could be looking at five to eight years before catching up to where we were before the recession began.”