The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) measures Unemployment in different ways, although it cooks up a pretty number for "official" public consumption. Here is the list:
U1 : Percentage of labor force unemployed 15 weeks or longer.
U2 : Percentage of labor force who lost jobs or completed temporary work.
U3 : Official unemployment rate per ILO definition.
U4 : U3 + "discouraged workers", or those who have stopped looking for work because current economic conditions make them believe that no work is available for them.
U5 : U4 + other "marginally attached workers", or "loosely attached workers", or those who "would like" and are able to work, but have not looked for work recently.
U6 : U5 + Part time workers who want to work full time, but cannot due to economic reasons.
Here are the current BLS numbers for each:
U1: 4.2%
U2: 4.2%
U3: 7.7% (Official)
U4: 8.3%
U5: 9.2%
U6: 14.3%
Of all the BLS measurements, U6 is closest to the reality of today's economy. Common sense tells us that decreasing total employment in an increasing population cannot possibly square with a lower unemployment rate.
Everyone is lying to prop up the sick economy and delay its collapse. This was never more obvious than yesterday when the other CNBC talking heads angrily shouted Rick Santelli down for daring to ask "Have we gotten that far down the hole?" after it was tacitly admitted that Bernanke's Fed is propping up the stock markets.
Everyone is now fully invested in the lie...
The problem is, too many jobs have gone to China.
We need to bring back US jobs now.