Americans think the unemployment rate is 32 percent

Vox ^ | November 15, 2014 | Danielle Kurtzleben

[faithhopecharity]

More people out of work than anytime in history. And as a percentage it must be approaching 1930’s level.

[2ndDivisionVet]

When I want a “raise” I sell one or two more products.

[tiki]

Probably because every country is being lied to like we are.

[Zuben Elgenubi]

It's like when one attends a football game in a stadium that sits 100,000 people. The announcer says the game is sold out but can't help but note that 25% of the seats are empty.

People know brothers and sisters, neighbors, ex-workers and just about everyone over 55 are unemployed in high numbers.

Just look around the stadium.

[Iron Munro]

Probably closer to the real number than the B.S. the feral government puts out.

[expat_panama]

...a massive credibility issue in studies like this...

The confusion here is caused by Vox Media for asking "Out of every 100 people of working age, how many do you think are unemployed and looking for work?", but not mentioning that they're using an extremely narrow definition "unemployed and looking".  Normal people would think that virtually all working age folk who aren't in jail are open to taking a job if the pay is right.  So this means the rate we're really talking about now is more like 41%.

The fact is that since 2008 ten million people lost their jobs and the labor market won't stabilize until they're allowed to work again.

[9422WMR]

I witnessed a large black woman being assisted to her SUV by the grocery clerk. One cart was full to overloaded, the second had 10 gallons of milk plus a few bags of other goodies.
Never in my life have I seen anyone buy more than 1-3 gallons of milk.
And yes, she was morbidly obese. EBT to the rescue!!!!!!

[norwaypinesavage]

I’ll bet these “Americans” are closer to the real number than Obama is.

[Pollster1]

Americans are as bad at identifying the “true” unemployment rate as 6% as they are at identifying Obama’s “true” religion as Christian. It’s almost like they don’t believe the mainstream media any more.

[lonestar67]

It is strange how Americans accurately perceive what is going on despite VOX propaganda to the contrary:

40% of Americans are not in the workforce
40% don’t want to work

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/giving-up-40-women-28-men-39-youth-dont-want-a-job/article/2556177

[blackdog]

Gee I am withholding comment on the matter until I hear from MIT professors.

[tbw2]

The percentage of the adult population 25-55 working has plunged from 66% (the high around a decade go) to 58%. Around 10% of adults working are part time and want to be full time.
10% part time and 8% used to work but aren’t is 18% - roughly a third of 66%. So of the 2/3 of the population that was working a decade ago, a third are either unemployed or under employed.
So the perception isn’t unrealistic.

[Jackson Brown]

What ever the 'rate" or this or that --- there are 2,000,000 LESS full time jobs then when Obama took office....

not considering the 200,000 they need a month to keep up with potential workforce growth.

Draw your own conclusions.

[kearnyirish2]

“Here’s a term that the media has never used since Obama has been in the White House, “McJobs.”

The word “homeless” has disappeared as well; if a Repub takes the White House they’ll show people sleeping on the streets during the inauguration...

[backwoods-engineer]

Americans responses are closer to the correct answer, because the FedGov Beast does not count people who are no longer looking for a job. “Not in labor force” probably does account for close to 1/3 of adults.

[kearnyirish2]

Good point; wages have been stagnant or dropping for years. Anyone I know who lost a decent job and got another in the same field is making less money, as though big companies just swapped their workers to re-set wages and vacation time accrued. It seems to be the ones having the hardest time making the adjustment are women over 50; they are in denial that the 9 to 5 job with two fifteen minute breaks and an hour lunch is a thing of the past.

All this fear about Asia surpassing us was justified; it happened years ago. 1/2 of the world’s population lives between Red China, India, and southeast Asia; we’re irrelevant compared to those numbers (and I believe this plays a role in our de facto amnesty policy). Asia doesn’t have to toil as the sweatshop for the West; they have their own middle classes now.

[musicman]

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[Cringing Negativism Network]

93,000,000 unemployed, on a population of what, 300,000,000.

Sounds about right actually.

That’s what happens, when America sends millions of jobs to China.

China grows. America shrinks.

[St_Thomas_Aquinas]

Americans are so stupid. /s