[TigersEye]

Correction: I should have said a continuous upward trend averaged and you bring up another adjustment that should be included as well. It should reflect percentage of workforce not total population. Of course increased percentage of government jobs would skew it too. I don't know if those are counted in unemployment figures ... or whether they should be since they don't really reflect economic conditions the same way jobs in the open market do. Do they?

[Positive]

"It should reflect percentage of workforce not total population."

you are correct, I'm just too busy to do the research to find out what the "workforce" represents as a percentage of the population.

My guess is that the workforce was a smaller percentage of the population in 1945 than it is now because of more single income families then.