I sniffed around at 6th and Main yesterday for lazy jobless Rapid City hippies. I didn't smell any.
A new online survey on the main Occupy Wall Street website suggests that you might have a better chance of finding slackers and layabouts among the general population than you will among the sign wavers, shouters, and campers in your local financial district. The data, analyzed by City University of New York sociologist Héctor R. Cordero-Guzmán, show that, compared to the civilian population over age 16, folks interested in the Occupation have higher rates of full-time and part-time employment:
| OWS Survey Sample (early October, 2011) | Civilian Non-Institutional Population Over 16 (BLS.gov, Q3 2011) | |
| % in Labor Force | 83.80% | 64.04% |
| % working full-time | 50.40% | 46.77% |
| % working part-time | 20.40% | 11.14% |
| % unemployed | 13.10% | 5.83% |
As one might expect from the common concerns expressed over jobs at Occupy events, a larger percentage of folks interested in the movement are also struggling to find work.
Now reread that OWS link: this was an online survey, with self-selecting participants. Even with 1619 respondents, there's still plenty of room for error.
But consider: that's over 1600 people with time on their hands to answer an online survey. You'd think that sample would include more non-workers, like students and retired folks. Yet this group shows higher participation in the workforce and more people holding and seeking jobs.
Some other stats of note from the OWS online survey:
- 92.5% of respondents identified themselves as supporters of the Occupation. So 7.5% were opponents who may have made mischief.
- 64.2% of respondents were younger than 34. Not quite Wild in the Streets, but watch out, Shelley Winters fans....
- 70.3% identify themselves as Independents.
- 27.3% identify themselves as Democrats.
- 2.4% identify themselves as Republicans. (Compare those partisan metrics with a Republican-conducted survey in April 2010 that found 57% of Tea Partiers calling themselves Republicans, 28% Independent, and 13% terribly confused about what it means to call oneself a Democrat.)
Interesting if data correct, especially 70% Independents. There's frustration with a broken system, a rigged system, a system that has become way too undemocratic. The disparity and inequality is going to flame this. Finally is really the word. As much as Obama seemed like the right possibility to make some change, he wasn't, or couldn't. Don't see how though the country gets to a better place from here.
I wrestle with that last observation myself, John. President Obama seems like the only alternative to GOP anarcho-capitalism. OWS isn't ready to become a third party. Can OWS change the conversation enough to pull the Democratic Party in the right direction?
Maybe it's term limits, or money out of politics, but they aren't gonna do that. The country should be able to have a popular vote on these type of systematic changes if Congress won't do it.
National I & R. Yes. Good idea, John.
...just knowing we have it would really wake up Congress. The first challenge there would be amending the Constitution, of course.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E-democracy
The government has too much control over us without a working mechanism to fix it. Bit of a closet case. Closet Tea Partier!
:^)