Here's a news article from the Christian Science Monitor:
Unemployment means those people without jobs. It should be immaterial whether or not such people actively are looking or not. This statement especially is true in a country that is not creating jobs. Some people simply are tired of looking for work that's not there.
In the Tao Te Ching, Lao Tzu spends considerable time discussing the hallmarks of good leadership. One of these hallmarks is to be clear and straightforward, not deceptive and clever. The "official" unemployment rate is an example of the latter, not the former. It's an attempt to put a sugar coating on a dismal situation by attempting to make a bad situation not seem so bad.
[Note: Checkout NW Ohio Skeptics, Jobs, New Jobs and the Lies Politicians Tell. It seems Bruce and I must be on the same wavelength today!]
In June, the US economy shed 125,000 jobs, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported Friday. This mostly resulted from the loss of 225,000 temporary jobs at the Census Bureau. Private employers added 83,000 jobs – a number that indicates they remain far from enthusiastic about taking on new workers. And although the unemployment rate dropped to 9.5 percent from 9.7 percent, most of the improvement occurred because disappointed workers stopped looking for jobs, thus dropping out of the workforce. [emphasis added]Only in America can an economy lose more jobs than created and yet still trumpet a DECREASE in the unemployment rate. If a child in 5th grade employed this type of mathematical reasoning, you know as well as I that he or she would receive a big fat F!
Unemployment means those people without jobs. It should be immaterial whether or not such people actively are looking or not. This statement especially is true in a country that is not creating jobs. Some people simply are tired of looking for work that's not there.
In the Tao Te Ching, Lao Tzu spends considerable time discussing the hallmarks of good leadership. One of these hallmarks is to be clear and straightforward, not deceptive and clever. The "official" unemployment rate is an example of the latter, not the former. It's an attempt to put a sugar coating on a dismal situation by attempting to make a bad situation not seem so bad.
[Note: Checkout NW Ohio Skeptics, Jobs, New Jobs and the Lies Politicians Tell. It seems Bruce and I must be on the same wavelength today!]
In fairness to the statistician moles, they just get the numbers. Other's interpret them and create the contradictory noises. No one spends money collecting actual unemployment data; the Feds just tally state-level reports of the unemployed who regularly report in. For strict honesty in national numbers, we'd have to spend real dollars on much more surveying... What we have an unquestioned willingness to spend money on is foreign, not domestic, nation-building...
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteWould you be a dear and delete that previous comment for me? I entered the "wrong" name by mistake. Txs!
ReplyDeleteArsen,
ReplyDeleteI don't think that's entirely true. I've seen federal reports before that, hidden in the fine print, show a more accurate representation. I think they have more info than they CHOOSE to report.
Lorena,
Always willing to oblige such a fine lady!