[BushCountry]

“I am sure they would want to know how they made a 22% error.”

The number of people that are discouraged and not looking for work has always been there. It is how the government manipulates the unemployment numbers to make them look better than they are. It has always been well over 10%. The chart below only goes up to 2015 but did not improve during and after COVID. The official unemployment number has always been tweaked.

https://fredblog.stlouisfed.org/2015/05/the-many-flavors-of-unemployment/?utm_source=series_page&utm_medium=related_content&utm_term=related_resources&utm_campaign=fredblog

[Owen]

First of all, go spend time and learn how the measurement is taken. Then when you do your own measurement and get a different number, contact them and show them how they made a 22% error.

There are tweaks. They are called time series dependent seasonal adjustments. The methodology of these, too, is presented. After you have done your own seasonal adjustments to your own numbers and find that your tweaks are superior, contact them and show them their 22% error.