/cdn1.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/2459444/unemp_estimate.0.png)
Posted on 11/16/2014 5:32:16 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
The latest jobs report showed the unemployment rate was at its lowest level in six years, 5.8 percent.
But Americans aren't convinced that things are nearly that good. In a recent Ipsos-MORI poll, 1,001 Americans were asked, "Out of every 100 people of working age, how many do you think are unemployed and looking for work?" Their average response was 32. That's almost 26 percentage points higher than the 6.1-percent jobless rate in August, when the poll was conducted.
Americans are way, way off here. But they aren't alone. Here's how other countries' average estimated unemployment rates stack up to their actual unemployment rates:
/cdn3.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/2459448/Screen_Shot_2014-11-14_at_3.09.09_PM.0.png)
To be fair, it's possible that question wording matters here...though "out of work and looking for work" is the most broadly used definition of unemployment, people may be also considering their discouraged-worker friends who have given up the search. Still, even when you include discouraged and other marginally attached workers, even the broadest definition of unemployment in August was only 12 percent.
But moreover, unemployment is still a big problem, and those high guesses may reflect that. The job market is simply painful for many Americans right now, so to many people, it really might feel like the jobless rate is much higher.
This all doesn't just matter because people are off. It matters because the degree to which people perceive problems guides how they make political decisions. (Not that Congress has been doing much about boosting jobs, as Ezra Klein wrote earlier this year.)
Update: This post was updated to provide more context and analysis about the jobless rate.
More people out of work than anytime in history. And as a percentage it must be approaching 1930’s level.
When I want a “raise” I sell one or two more products.
Probably because every country is being lied to like we are.
People know brothers and sisters, neighbors, ex-workers and just about everyone over 55 are unemployed in high numbers.
Just look around the stadium.
Probably closer to the real number than the B.S. the feral government puts out.
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.
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!!!!!!
I’ll bet these “Americans” are closer to the real number than Obama is.
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.
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
Gee I am withholding comment on the matter until I hear from MIT professors.
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.
“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...
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.
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.
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.
Americans are so stupid. /s
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
