When I logged on to find out the weather for today’s parade on Broadway — the Yankees celebrating their World Series win — the news headlines were not only surprising, they were shocking.

Just yesterday, I remember reading several news reports on the great recovering Wall Street is making.

Today, however, the headlines center around the 190,000 new jobs lost in October. That takes the unemployment rate to 10.6% — the highest in 26 years.

There’s always some lack of agreement about the accuracy of numbers. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics may use a different definition of “unemployed” than the rest of the world. I guess that really doesn’t matter. Any way you look at it, that’s a lot of people who are not working.

There’s another side to the unemployment crisis that people don’t seem to be talking about. That is the number of people who are under-employed as a result of the economy. Those who are under-employed accept positions below their skill and experience levels. Previously they might have held a position as a manager. Now, they’re working in a clerical position.

Because something is better than nothing… because they have no other options… and because competition for jobs is so stiff, those who are under-employed accept positions that pay them less than they were used to earning before the economy tumbled.

People in business have their own challenges. Business these days is tough. Sales are down. Expenses are up. But people in their own business have greater flexibility than those who are under-employed. A business owner can become more aggressive with sales, find new ways to operate more efficiently, open new territories, find new products and services to offer, and so on.

The person who is unemployed or under-employed is stuck — waiting for someone else to take the initiative.

Who is at greater risk? The person who is unemployed? The person who is under-employed? Or the person who is self-employed?

The New York Times: Unemployment in California at 12%, Highest in Nearly 70 Years

Forbes.com: NC jobless rate remains near 11 percent in August

Associated Press: 42 states lose jobs in August, up from 29 in July

CNBC: State Unemployment Keeps Rising; Three Hit Record Highs

The Progressive Pulse: NC unemployment dips slightly…to a still alarming rate of 10.8%

And then I came across this blog posting by Mark Lacter at LAObserved.

Kind of a misery loves company thing when it comes to the August jobs picture. Three states had rates higher than California’s 12.2 percent: Rhode Island (12.8 percent), Nevada (13.2 percent), and the grand-daddy of them all, Michigan (15. 2 percent). Perhaps more revealing: 14 states have an unemployment rate in the double digits and 27 states posted increases. By the way, California’s 12.2 percent is a postwar high (that’s World War II for the youngins’). All these numbers, of course, are only starting points for assessing the true employment picture. Within portions of L.A. County, for instance, unemployment is way higher than the county’s 12.3 percent overall. The City of Commerce had the highest unemployment rate in the county, at 22 percent.

While the government and the Fed continue to report that things are getting better and that the economy is returning to normalcy, I again remind everyone that ours is a trickle-down economy.

Prosperity returns first to those on the mountaintop. The lower you are in the pecking order, the longer it takes to find any sense of normalcy.

Don’t take my word for it. Read accounts of the years following the Great Depression. Employment started to grow again in 1944-1945 – 15 years after the crash in 1929. It was a long haul for many.

Waiting and hoping that things will get better is not an action step. Seek out alternatives that leverage your skills, experience, and aptitudes.

Out of curiosity, I searched the internet to find out how much average adult workers in the U.S. were earning. According to the U.S. Department of Commerce, the average adult full-time worker in 2005 earned $39,336. (That number is four years old, but I felt it would serve my purpose.)

In some ways that $39,336 was higher than I thought it would be; in others, it was lower.

I don’t know what made me think about it, but I wanted to know the total impact to all those who are currently unemployed.

So I multiplied $39,336 by 14,500,000 jobless people. The grand total was a staggering $570,372,000,000. Yes, $570 billion dollars missing out of the pockets of families like yours and mine.

Well, I took a step back. Statistics are sometimes deceiving.

I reasoned… this, of course, was total annual income. On the one had, it was obvious that not everyone would be unemployed for an entire year. On the other, it didn’t take into consideration that when people are reemployed, they often tend to accept a lower salary.

Then, as I was reasoning through this, another question came to me. How much does the economy need to turn around in order for businesses large and small to afford to add $570,372,000,000 in annual payroll dollars?

I didn’t know where to start in order to compute that. So the answer I’m using (not statistical) is “a lot.”

When I hear reports of the economy getting better – which, of course, I hope it does sooner than later – I’m glad to hear those reports.

But I’m always reminded that the people who are earning an average of $39,336 a year are the last to rebound. In our trickle down economy, people who need the jobs the most are the last ones in line.

“What do you do?” was the question that came at me at just such an event yesterday from a middle-aged gentleman in a gray pinstripe suit.

I handed him my business card and gave him my elevator speech about ThinkSelfEmployed.com. I talked about my desire to help people who are unemployed start their own businesses.

He gave me his elevator speech and then came at me with both barrels.

“You know, Gil, 90% of all businesses fail in their first 5 years.”

Throughout the years, I’ve heard all kinds of statistics about business failures. Quite honestly, I don’t know how anyone could gather such statistics.

Someone starts a small business in his or her basement. They work at it quietly for a while and then pull the plug. How does anyone know they failed if no one knows they started?

How could that private in-the-basement attempt at entrepreneurship be seen, measured, or counted by any government or independent reporting agency?

Sure, businesses fail. We’ve just witnessed and watched as some giants with years under their belts failed… giants that you and I thought were rocks corporate of stability.

Whatever that percentage of failures… 90, 80, 70, 60, 50 percent, if 70% of them fail that means 30% succeed. Imagine, 30% of the people who try to start a new business actually succeed!

Then my thought went into a different direction.

I wonder how many people who start a new job today will be at that same job and working for the same company in 5 years.

Some will make it, be promoted, and watch their salary and success grow.

Others will be fired or laid off or downsized. I’m sure that a sizable percentage will determine that “it’s just not working out.” These people will move on… of their own volition… to try something else at a different place of employment.

What’s the difference? Do these people consider themselves as failed? Because they’re not likely to be at the same job in 5 years, does that keep them from accepting the position in the first place and trying their best? And if they happen to be laid off, do they experience the same stigma as someone who failed while starting a new business?

I think not. Most pick themselves up and start all over again.

I suppose a lot of people go looking for a “magic bullet” that brings with it a guarantee. “Use this magic bullet and your success will be guaranteed.”

I don’t think it works that way.

It was dark by the time I returned to my desk. But I felt compelled to take the time then to send an email to my new friend in the gray pinstripe suit. My email expressed my appreciation and gratitude for a great conversation, and my hope that we’d meet again at future chamber events.

Then I concluded, “If I can help even a fraction of the members in my From Unemployed To Self-Employed program find success in a business of their own, that would be monumental. And who could ever argue with that?

Behind that 14,500,000 statistic are unemployed victims of the economy. They represent stories of real people and real families who we caught by a thundering storm they could not prevent.

Their stories represent financial hardships. Their stories tell of the emotional roller coaster, excited one day when a new job seems possible or saddened the next when they get the bad news that someone else was hire.

Their stories must express anger and fear as they watch their dreams disappear along with their financial security.

And their stories must be filled feelings of lack of worth when, through no fault of their own, they were tagged as one of employees that needed to go.

I can’t imagine what those feelings would be like.

I’ve never been fired or laid off from a job. I’m not bragging. The reason is simple. It’s been over 30 years since I held a real job and worked for someone else.

During those 30 years I’ve been self employed – working in my own businesses. Sometimes, my businesses were substantial, if you call a retail business with 18 employees substantial… or an advertising agency with 8 employees significant.

Mostly, it was just me working alone and relying on a number of loyal and trusted subcontractors.

I suppose I’ve always felt secure because I didn’t have a job. I couldn’t allow myself to become complacent. I couldn’t sit back and wait for something to happen… or a boss to step out of his office and hand me a juicy bonus check.

I was the driver. The responsibility to steer the boat, to determine its course, and to keep the wind in the sails was all mine.