Posted on 12/02/2011 7:30:23 AM PST by libertarian neocon
Today, the Bureau of Labor Statistics released the employment report for November, which showed that our unemployment rate hit 8.6%, the "lowest" since March of 2009. As I've mentioned before, the unemployment rate that is printed today is not comparable to the unemployment rates of even a couple of years ago thanks to the "labor participation rate" falling off since November 2008:
As you can see, the labor force participation rate is about 2% lower than it was thanks to people no longer being counted as being part of the labor force. This artificially lowers the unemployment rate, as well as U-6 which counts the underemployed (currently at 15.6%). I guess this is one way Obama can solve the unemployment problem, if he kicks all the unemployed out of the labor force, unemployment would technically be 0% statistically (that tells you how much you can trust statistics to tell you how well we are doing).
So how does the unemployment rate look if you keep it steady at 66%? Take a look at this graph where the red line is the published unemployment number and the blue line takes into account those kicked out of the labor force number:
Not very pretty is it? It also tells a very different story which is that unemployment peaked in October 2009 at 10.1% and has been falling ever since. According to this calculation, our peak unemployment was actually in July of 2011 at 11.9%!
Anyway, here is an official statistic which pretty much corroborates my story,the employment to population ratio. Basically, it's the percent of people over the age of 16 who are currently working. That number also only bottomed in July:
So if you feel that the economy still seems really bad, despite official statistics looking good, there's a reason. You're right!
The Ministry of Propaganda is in charge of Economic numbers.
When I saw that number this morning my first thought was, “Well, they’re just mocking us now.”
BTTT
The fed can lie but the truth is the misery index in fly over country is thru the roof. Outside of DC no one is fooled.
ditto
“Thank you for posting this.”
You’re welcome!
As more people get off the unemployment list because their unemployment has run out, the list of the unemployed gets smaller.
However the real unemployment rate is getting bigger.
Many new jobs created in the Department of Chevy Volt Excuses Department.
Thank You! I was expecting some improvement due to seasonal hiring, but the fairy tale the 0bama regime is putting out through their propaganda machine signals the start of a "mythical" economic recovery timed to coincide with the election next year.
FUBO GTFO! 415 Days until Noon Jan 20, 2013
I think it goes down a tick EVERY year this time due to temp hires for retail for Christmas.
I gotta tell you that post cracked me up. It pretty much sums up my take.
I stopped taking these reports seriously years ago.
Where did you get a 66% participation rate? I only see 64% back in 1998-2000. ftp://ftp.bls.gov/pub/special.requests/lf/aa2008/aat1.txt
Also, if you add back the 315,000 people who dropped out of the labor force from last month to the total labor for and to the unemployed, then unemployment is at 8.8% from last month.
Where did you get a 66% participation rate? I only see 64% back in 1998-2000. ftp://ftp.bls.gov/pub/special.requests/lf/aa2008/aat1.txt
Also, if you add back the 315,000 people who dropped out of the labor force from last month to the total labor force and to the unemployed, then unemployment is at 8.8% from last month.
Bookmarking. Great analysis!
I got to work today ans saw this on the tv in the kitchen on cnn, I said to myself, yeah *cusses* right, changed it to foxnews.
You’ve nailed it. Those people are living off savings (theirs or someone elses), welfare, or working for their CUT.
Cash Under Table.
“Where did you get a 66% participation rate? I only see 64% back in 1998-2000. ftp://ftp.bls.gov/pub/special.requests/lf/aa2008/aat1.txt”
I think you’re looking at the wrong column. Maybe you are looking at the percent of the population employed column? That is the Employment to Population Ratio that I mention which was at 64%. The labor force participation rate is the third column from the left (not including the year).
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