[Eagle of Liberty]

It means that an insignificant number of jobs were added, but that an ENORMOUS number of people dropped out of even looking for jobs...the so-called "discouraged workers" number

Do you have to be collecting unemployment to be considered in the unemployed number? I am pretty sure that by now, a large number of people have probably exhausted their weeks of unemployment. Funny that we NEVER hear about extending the package any more. That was Pelosi and Reid's fallback legislation any time they wanted to gin up some anger for damn near a year.

[xzins]

I believe they fall out of the numbers after their unemployment is used up. They are the U6 number.

There are those who haven’t looked for work in the last month....they are the “discouraged workers”, if I recall correctly.

There’s some other dodge in there, too. It’s something like “they haven’t ‘reported’ looking for work in the past month. It sounds like those who haven’t checked in.

[Roccus]

Do you have to be collecting unemployment to be considered in the unemployed number?

"If you are unemployed long enough, you are no longer unemployed." (H/T to trav7777 at zero hedge)

Funny that we NEVER hear about extending the package any more.

IIRC, it is part of Zer0's jobs bill.