Rush is trying to explain how, by shrinking the total number of available jobs, the admin is saying that the unemployment rate is going down. Rush is not getting his percentages exactly straight, but he’s making the point.
I don’t know the history of U3 or U6, but why in HE!! would gov compute unemployment as (1 - (percent of jobs filled))
...instead of (number desiring jobs)/(number of working + number desiring jobs)
I thank Rush completely missed the point that the caller was making.
He is screwing this up royally. I understand the point he's trying to make, but he's not making it. For several months now, whenever he talks about the unemployment rate and the labor participation rate, he get it all balled up.
The unemployment rate is said to be dropping because so many people are no longer actively looking for work. It's no more complicated than that. If, this month, 1 million new jobs are advertised but none are filled because qualified people aren't available in the towns they're offered, the unemployment rate won't change.
No jobs have been created -- they're just potential jobs.
He goes way off on these long tangents about the number of jobs and he's just confused. He mentioned that he's been told a number of times that he's got it wrong, but, evidently, he's not listening. It's too bad because he's a crucial resource for us.
Did the gov’t shrink the number of jobs or the number of people?