[unixfox]

Waddya bet when we get a republican president the unemployment numbers will majically jump from 9% to over 15%.

Just a wild guess.

[xzins]

I’ve heard that the best measure of unemployment is not U3, U4, U5, OR U6 but that it is instead the number of people who actually have jobs divided by the US working age population. The employment-population ration in the US is just under 60% at about 58%, I believe.

That means we’re a little ahead of 3rd world countries, but also as you can see, we’re again trusting government numbers.

I think the best idea is an independent, fair statistical survey of employed, partially employed, unemployed, and the uninterested in employment.