The official unemployment rate is now 8.6% and the Democrats see that as a sign that their economic policies are getting people back to work. In reality, the only reason the unemployment rate has dropped is that so many people have simply stopped looking – they’ve given up in despair. Ezra Klein points to this Financial Times article that notes that the unemployment rate in the United States is now worse than many parts of Europe, and if you count those who have given up, the rate is more like 11%. That’s not even counting the underemployed.
According to government statistics, if the same number of people were seeking work today as in 2007, the jobless rate would be 11 per cent. Some have moved from claiming unemployment benefits to disability benefits, and have thus permanently dropped out of the labour force. Others have fallen back on the charity of relatives. Others still have ended up in prison.
The article goes on to note how fixing the employment situation in the US is much easier said than done. Oddly, there is a call for higher education and infrastructure spending. But education spending is much higher today than it was a few decades ago, and we’re already in hock for nearly a trillion dollars for President Obama’s stimulus bill, so that’s going to be a tough sell. Maybe if the government stopped implementing policies that make it difficult to do business in the US we wouldn’t be having this conversation.
Update: Linked by Maggie – thanks!
Update 2: Daily Pundit linked – thanks!
Update 3: Scared Monkeys linked – thanks!
This is a great example of the manipulations that the president is willing to undertake to build his case for reelection.
My question is, does the government still pay unemployment benefits to those classified as giving up?
If those classified as giving up still get unemployment checks, this is a scam!
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No Joesph, when one “gives up”, they no longer qualify. While there’s certain criteria that varies from state to state, a federal mandate says they must be actively seeking employment. I haven’t research but I’m pretty sure that every state ask that question prior to each check. If the person states that they have not actively sought employment, that they’ve refused work, or that they weren’t physically able to work, they don’t get a check. If one falsifies, they are subject to prosecution. They are also asked if they did work and if so, how much did the earn. Their check is then adjusted accordingly.
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I am awere of the rules, just asking if the number of paid claims had dropped by 300,000 as the report indicates.
Times are hard, I would not want to be on the unemployed list. Companies are picker than ever with so many unemployed. They can interview hundreds of people for one or two openings.
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I’m thinking that’s where they got their numbers Joe.
I think they actual figure on those looking for work in ratio of jobs available are like 5:1.
But that might depend on who you ask. According to Newt, all you have to do is take a bath and then just go get one. If that’s the case, jobs are available to anyone freshly bathed.
So hell, how well Obama has created jobs all depend on how one wants to apply it to one’s agenda.
Hot debate. What do you think?
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Point taken!
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Klein and the FT are about a week late on the 11% unemployment number. James Pethokoukis nailed the 11% rate not long after the BLS numbers came out.
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Figures don’t lie, but liars can figure. The government has manipulated statistical calculations to fit their needs for years. Shadowstats.com provides data that shows that the rate of inflation is much higher using the clculation in the early 90′s than it is today. Seems like the stuff we buy everyday does not count as much now as it did then. Using the calculation in the early 90′s for unemployment brings it closer to 17-18%. And I didn’t look for the calculation when Reagan did his index adding inflation to unemployment.
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[...] is a little tidbit. Even Ezra Klein (a major Obama suckup) is posting this. Wow. Unemployment Is 11% If You Count Those Who Gave Up In Despair | The Lonely Conservative The official unemployment rate is now 8.6% and the Democrats see that as a sign that their [...]
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[...] may not have heard, but if not for all of the desperate people who simply quit looking for work, the official rate would be 11%.Via Hot Airgoogle_ad_client = "ca-pub-1395656889568144"; /* 300×250, created 8/11/08 */ [...]
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Nice spin. And we all know how much the right cares about ‘people giving up in despair’. The code word is ‘lazy.’
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[...] The “Allahu Akhbar” remark is at about 2:37-in. Maybe… if we don’t say he said it, it never happened. Kinda like not saying the real unemployment rate is 11%. [...]
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[...] Have You Ever Heard Anything As Nutty As This One? Posted on December 12, 2011 5:30 pm by Bill Quick Unemployment Is 11% If You Count Those Who Gave Up In Despair | The Lonely Conservative [...]
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Not to mention, counting people who are getting MAYBE 16 hours of temporary work as “employed”. I can’t fathom what the real figure might be, when you strip away all of the creative language. I do know that the Whiner in Chief hasn’t managed to effect a single positive thing during his entire term. But then, from his perspective he’d been wildly successful, having managed to make a good chunk of the country good little Government dependents…
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If we counted the unemployed the same way the government did in 1975, the umemployment rate would be almost 25%!
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[...] stop the fuzzy math. The unemployment rate is not 8.6%, as stated at the Lonely Conservative, unemployment is 11% if you count those who gave up in despair. Stop the madness if anyone actually [...]
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