[1rudeboy]

Or can you make a case?

Once a week, it seems. Most annoying is to correct someone only to see them repeat the same falsehood later. Please pay particular attention to the second paragraph. From the BLS website:

What do the unemployment insurance (UI) figures measure?

The UI figures are not produced by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Statistics on insured unemployment in the United States are collected as a by-product of UI programs. Workers who lose their jobs and are covered by these programs typically file claims ("initial claims") that serve as notice that they are beginning a period of unemployment. Claimants who qualify for benefits are counted in the insured unemployment figures (as "continued claims"). Data on UI claims are maintained by the Employment and Training Administration, an agency of the U.S. Department of Labor, and are available on the Internet at: http://workforcesecurity.doleta.gov/unemploy/claims.asp.

These data are not used to measure total unemployment because they exclude several important groups. To begin with, not all workers are covered by UI programs. For example, self-employed workers, unpaid family workers, workers in certain not-for-profit organizations, and several other small (primarily seasonal) worker categories are not covered. In addition, the insured unemployed exclude the following:

• Unemployed workers who have exhausted their benefits
• Unemployed workers who have not yet earned benefit rights (such as new entrants or reentrants to the labor force)
• Disqualified workers whose unemployment is considered to have resulted from their own actions rather than from economic conditions; for example, a worker discharged for misconduct on the job
• Otherwise eligible unemployed persons who do not file for benefits

[Brown Deer]

Yashcheritsiy: "Because of the way they calculate U3, this (should) ironically make the U3 start shooting back up as tons of people reapply for benefits."

1rudeboy: "The above is incorrect. Completely. Where does this misconception come from?"

It comes from the United States Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics:

U-3 Total unemployed, as a percent of the civilian labor force (official unemployment rate)

1rudeboy: "Most annoying is to correct someone only to see them repeat the same falsehood later."

You shouldn't post falsehoods then!

Employed persons consist of:

• All persons who did any work for pay or profit during the survey reference week.
• All persons who did at least 15 hours of unpaid work in a family-owned enterprise operated by someone in their household.
• All persons who were temporarily absent from their regular jobs, whether they were paid or not.

Persons are classified as unemployed if they do not have a job, have actively looked for work in the prior 4 weeks, and are currently available for work.

Persons not in the labor force are those who are not classified as employed or unemployed during the survey reference week.

Millions of unemployed people have dropped dropped out of the workforce because they are no longer actively looking for work. With this extension of benefits millions of "unemployed, but not counted as unemployed" people will now begin to look for work. This will in fact, increase the total number of unemployed, which in turn will cause the U-3 number to rise!

[Yashcheritsiy]

Most annoying is to correct someone only to see them repeat the same falsehood later. Please pay particular attention to the second paragraph. From the BLS website:

In other words, the website you so helpfully pointed us to says exactly what I was using to come to my conclusion. Thank you for substantiating my statement.

Now, perhaps, you wouldn't have to "correct" people every week if you actually knew what you were talking about, or had the sense to simply mind your own business instead of trying to be a busybody ninny who feels like he has to go around and "correct" everybody all the time.