I really think this needs to be documented. In response to my previous posts (here and here) I am getting many e-mails from readers confirming that the idea that affluent workers were unaffected during the recession doesn’t hold water. The data presented in this study might make for nice populist headlines, but it is misleading since many high-income earners do not qualify for unemployment when they lose their job or source of income.

Read for yourself:

Thank you for shedding a light on unemployment among consultants, referenced in a comment at NRO. We are the undocumented workers of the white collar world. We aren’t counted in unemployment statistics. We don’t qualify for unemployment insurance. We pay double FICA. Since we have assets and don’t live in public housing, we don’t qualify for food stamps. We have to find and pay for our own insurance, which is pretty pricey. It’s a scary situation.

or

My wife and I live near Greensboro, N.C., where my wife has been actively involved with the Greensboro Newcomers, a women’s social group, for the past several years. Most of the members have spouses with pretty good jobs — many CFOs, CEOs etc. of area companies. It has been surprising to me how many of the husbands have been put out of work during this current recession — many via company reorganizations aimed at trimming costs. In some cases, the companies they headed simply went belly-up. Of course there is high blue-collar unemployment in this area also, but the evidence I have seen is that white-collar jobs, many upper-end, have been hard hit.

and

My husband and I moved from D.C. to London last spring for my job. Although he searches for jobs every day, he has been unable to find a position in the media, a field in which he has around 20 years of experience. We’re fortunate enough that we do fine on just my salary. However, he has taken a job as a part-time bartender while he looks for a more permanent position in his field. His unemployment wasn’t do to a lay off, but to a move. But, still, our situation makes me wonder how many families out there have one person working now instead of two (or one person working full-time and the other part-time) and have determined that that is sufficient until the economy recovers. I doubt such circumstances would be reflected in any unemployment numbers.

also,

Your e-mailer regarding the self-employed is spot on. I am songwriter/composer, living off royalties.
There’s no way to define me as “unemployed” even though my income has plummeted, thanks to the beating the economy has taken (and the music business, specifically).
My income could disappear completely, and I would still not be counted as “unemployed.”