What are the real unemployment numbers?

[blahblahblah]

esmith brings up some good points. Both of my parents fall into the “under 65 and employable” catagory, yet neither works anymore. They left today to go run a marathon, so they arnt in the unemployable catagory yet they inflate your stats as they dont have jobs. They saved and invested and worked hard and now are enjoying a long retiremnet for it. They should not be counted as “unemployed”.

They won’t be counted. The unemployment calculation works like this:

% Unemployed = % of population currently receiving unemployment benefits

Since unemployment benefits run out after a few months (varies by state), the number doesn’t reflect those who never found a job before their benefits ran out.

[michael]

http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.t12.htm

NOTE: Marginally attached workers are persons who currently are neither working nor looking for work but indicate that they want and are available for a job and have looked for work sometime in the recent past. Discouraged workers, a subset of the marginally attached, have given a job-market related reason for not looking currently for a job. Persons employed part time for economic reasons are those who want and are available for full-time work but have had to settle for a part-time schedule. For more information, see “BLS introduces new range of alternative unemployment measures,” in the October 1995 issue of the Monthly Labor Review. Updated population controls are introduced annually with the release of January data

[michael]

http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.t12.htm

NOTE: Marginally attached workers are persons who currently are neither working nor looking for work but indicate that they want and are available for a job and have looked for work sometime in the recent past. Discouraged workers, a subset of the marginally attached, have given a job-market related reason for not looking currently for a job. Persons employed part time for economic reasons are those who want and are available for full-time work but have had to settle for a part-time schedule. For more information, see “BLS introduces new range of alternative unemployment measures,” in the October 1995 issue of the Monthly Labor Review. Updated population controls are introduced annually with the release of January data

[michael]

http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.t12.htm

NOTE: Marginally attached workers are persons who currently are neither working nor looking for work but indicate that they want and are available for a job and have looked for work sometime in the recent past. Discouraged workers, a subset of the marginally attached, have given a job-market related reason for not looking currently for a job. Persons employed part time for economic reasons are those who want and are available for full-time work but have had to settle for a part-time schedule. For more information, see “BLS introduces new range of alternative unemployment measures,” in the October 1995 issue of the Monthly Labor Review. Updated population controls are introduced annually with the release of January data

[michael]

http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.t12.htm

NOTE: Marginally attached workers are persons who currently are neither working nor looking for work but indicate that they want and are available for a job and have looked for work sometime in the recent past. Discouraged workers, a subset of the marginally attached, have given a job-market related reason for not looking currently for a job. Persons employed part time for economic reasons are those who want and are available for full-time work but have had to settle for a part-time schedule. For more information, see “BLS introduces new range of alternative unemployment measures,” in the October 1995 issue of the Monthly Labor Review. Updated population controls are introduced annually with the release of January data

[michael]

http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.t12.htm

NOTE: Marginally attached workers are persons who currently are neither working nor looking for work but indicate that they want and are available for a job and have looked for work sometime in the recent past. Discouraged workers, a subset of the marginally attached, have given a job-market related reason for not looking currently for a job. Persons employed part time for economic reasons are those who want and are available for full-time work but have had to settle for a part-time schedule. For more information, see “BLS introduces new range of alternative unemployment measures,” in the October 1995 issue of the Monthly Labor Review. Updated population controls are introduced annually with the release of January data

[EconProf]

Concho, you have voiced a common misconception. Unemployed simply means not working and actively seeking work.
That could be someone entering the work force for the first time, coming out of retirement to seek work, laid off, fired, etc. They may or may not be getting unemployent benefits, and in fact only about 40% of the unemployed currently receive benefits.

[EconProf]

Concho, you have voiced a common misconception. Unemployed simply means not working and actively seeking work.
That could be someone entering the work force for the first time, coming out of retirement to seek work, laid off, fired, etc. They may or may not be getting unemployent benefits, and in fact only about 40% of the unemployed currently receive benefits.

[EconProf]

Concho, you have voiced a common misconception. Unemployed simply means not working and actively seeking work.
That could be someone entering the work force for the first time, coming out of retirement to seek work, laid off, fired, etc. They may or may not be getting unemployent benefits, and in fact only about 40% of the unemployed currently receive benefits.

[EconProf]

Concho, you have voiced a common misconception. Unemployed simply means not working and actively seeking work.
That could be someone entering the work force for the first time, coming out of retirement to seek work, laid off, fired, etc. They may or may not be getting unemployent benefits, and in fact only about 40% of the unemployed currently receive benefits.

[EconProf]

Concho, you have voiced a common misconception. Unemployed simply means not working and actively seeking work.
That could be someone entering the work force for the first time, coming out of retirement to seek work, laid off, fired, etc. They may or may not be getting unemployent benefits, and in fact only about 40% of the unemployed currently receive benefits.

[ralphfurley]

[quote=socrattt]
My point is simply that US numbers are completely out of whack creating a false sense of security in this country. I truly believe that unemployment is already over 11% nationally, but that this government is doing everything in their power to have us think otherwise. It is simple math. Not many think outside the box, they just watch the news.
[/quote]
I completely agree.

Someone told me they changed the way we look at unemployment during the Clinton years. Can anyone confirm this?

[ralphfurley]

[quote=socrattt]
My point is simply that US numbers are completely out of whack creating a false sense of security in this country. I truly believe that unemployment is already over 11% nationally, but that this government is doing everything in their power to have us think otherwise. It is simple math. Not many think outside the box, they just watch the news.
[/quote]
I completely agree.

Someone told me they changed the way we look at unemployment during the Clinton years. Can anyone confirm this?

[ralphfurley]

[quote=socrattt]
My point is simply that US numbers are completely out of whack creating a false sense of security in this country. I truly believe that unemployment is already over 11% nationally, but that this government is doing everything in their power to have us think otherwise. It is simple math. Not many think outside the box, they just watch the news.
[/quote]
I completely agree.

Someone told me they changed the way we look at unemployment during the Clinton years. Can anyone confirm this?

[ralphfurley]

[quote=socrattt]
My point is simply that US numbers are completely out of whack creating a false sense of security in this country. I truly believe that unemployment is already over 11% nationally, but that this government is doing everything in their power to have us think otherwise. It is simple math. Not many think outside the box, they just watch the news.
[/quote]
I completely agree.

Someone told me they changed the way we look at unemployment during the Clinton years. Can anyone confirm this?

[Author]

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