U.S. changes how it measures long-term unemployment - from 2 to 5 years

[The Straight Story]

U.S. changes how it measures long-term unemployment

So many Americans have been jobless for so long that the government is changing how it records long-term unemployment.

Citing what it calls "an unprecedented rise" in long-term unemployment, the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), beginning Saturday, will raise from two years to five years the upper limit on how long someone can be listed as having been jobless.

The move could help economists better measure the severity of the nation's prolonged economic downturn.

The change is a sign that bureau officials "are afraid that a cap of two years may be 'understating the true average duration' — but they won't know by how much until they raise the upper limit," says Linda Barrington, an economist who directs the Institute for Compensation Studies at Cornell University's School of Industrial and Labor Relations.

Likening recessionary unemployment spikes in recent decades to a storm at sea, she says, "The waves are getting higher, and we want to understand the intricacies of how they're made up."


http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2010-12-28-1Ajobless28_ST_N.htm

[xchrom]

1. a sad sign of the times. nt

[somone]

2. Nice academic exercise for people with cushy jobs

[nadinbrzezinski]

5. Actually that cushy exercise could also lead

to fed programs to suport these people and all that.

It is not just academic. It will have REAL policy effects.

[Possumpoint]

3. Have to Ask

Is this being done to make things appear that they're improving?

[nadinbrzezinski]

6. No, they used to drop counting you at two years

now they will keep counting you for three more years.

[pinqy]

10. Untrue

The article is a little misleading, though the truth is in there. Previously, when asking how long someone was unemployed, the highest category was "more than 99 weeks." That doesn't mean someone unemployed for 5 years wasn't counted as unemployed, just that there was no way to tell how many were unemployed 2 years versus 3 versus 4 etc.

Now, there will be more categories, that's all. The definition hasn't changed and there has never been a max time to be counted as unemployed. If you're actively looking for work, it doesn't matter how long you've been unemployed.

[Bonhomme Richard]

4. If the conservatives had their way they would....

measure unemployment a maximum of 3 months. After that you are just a lazy person that doesn't want to work and wants only to live off the fruits of those that do work. I think I have that right.

[nadinbrzezinski]

7. You do

Except that three months is too long... three weeks you bum.

[BlueJac]

8. The government has been........

changing the way everything is figured, from unemployment to the cost of living. But this is always bad news for the American people and good news for the ones fixing the books.

[Lorien]

9. Just another use of the Enron accounting methods. nt

[rucky]

11. Unemployment was around 5% for the first half of '08

and now, less than two years later, we're told to accept a new reality? where's this long-term pattern they're talking about?

This smacks of the same bullshit as the sudden concern for austerity.

[Hannah Bell]

12. Translation: The rich, who own 88% of the assets in the US, are on strike

until they've racheted labor down to the place they want it.

Meanwhile, they'll make up a boatload of lies to disguise what they're doing.