Why the Government's Unemployment Rate is Dangerously Deceptive -- And the Dark Reality it Hides

[marmar]

AlterNet / By Les Leopold

Why the Government's Unemployment Rate is Dangerously Deceptive -- And the Dark Reality it Hides
The latest jobs report indicates that the unemployment and job creation rates are better than a year ago, but there are problems with the numbers.

March 9, 2011 |


I'm here to confirm everyone's gut sense that the way the government measures unemployment is a lie, and it matters.

The latest statistics compiled by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) indicate the unemployment rate is 8.9 percent and the economy added 192,000 jobs in February. Yes, that’s better than a year ago when the rate peaked at 10.4 percent and we lost 35,000 jobs.

But there are two big problems with those numbers:

First let’s look more closely at the 192,000 new jobs that were created last month. It’s seems like a good looking number – like filling up two big football stadiums with people and giving them all jobs. But not quite. We need about 100,000 new jobs a month just to keep up with population growth. That means we can only move toward full employment if the economy creates many more than 100,000 new jobs a month. So in effect, one of those football stadiums each month is mostly filled with young people just coming into the labor force. And the other football stadium in February seats the 92,000 unemployed folks who actually found new jobs. .............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.alternet.org/economy/150182/why_the_government%27s_unemployment_rate_is_dangerously_deceptive_--_and_the_dark_reality_it_hides/

[jannyk]

1. Kick & Rec!

[pinqy]

2. Where's the lie?

You said the report was "deceptive" and the measurements are a "lie," but you didn't show any such thing. Are employment and jobs (slightly different things) going up and better than a year ago? Yes. Is there more to the story than that? Of course, but it doesn't make the plain facts a lie or deceptive.

Labor Force participation is down. The employment to population ratio is down. Are these bad? Maybe, maybe not. But the main thing is, that if you're getting all the info about the structural problems and worse LF participation from BLS, which you are, it's curious to call the rest of the info a lie or deceptive.

[dwilso40641]

3. Are the 99ers

accounted for in their numbers? Or do they just go away.

[pinqy]

4. They're accounted for..

The Unemployment rate has never been based on UI benefits and the survey doesn't even ask about it. Unemployed are those not working but looking for work, regardless of how long they've been looking.