[SonOfDarkSkies]

The real unemployment rate is probably significantly higher than reported. In the real estate industry alone there are massive numbers of contract workers and self-employed specialists who have fallen between the cracks.

It's not that they aren't looking for work...they were never on unemployment because they were never officially "employed."

[Dave W]

Whether people receive unemployment or not has nothing to do with the jobless rate. The percentage is based on about 60,000 phone calls the Census Bureau does every month on behalf of the Labor Dept. Unemployment percent is based on these phone calls - nothing more. There is another survey of businesses done by the Labor Dept to determine the approximate number of job gains or losses.