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BeWare	by Jim Clifton Here's something that many Americans -- including some of the smartest and most educated among us -- don't know: The official unemployment rate, as reported by the U.S. Department of Labor, is extremely misleading. Right now, we're hearing much celebrating from the media, the White House and Wall Street about how unemployment is "down" to 5.6%. The cheerleading for this number is deafening. The media loves a comeback story, the White House wants to score political points and Wall Street would like you to stay in the market. None of them will tell you this: If you, a family member or anyone is unemployed and has subsequently given up on finding a job -- if you are so hopelessly out of work that you've stopped looking over the past four weeks -- the Department of Labor doesn't count you as unemployed. That's right. While you are as unemployed as one can possibly be, and tragically may never find work again, you are not counted in the figure we see relentlessly in the news -- currently 5.6%. Right now, as many as 30 million Americans are either out of work or severely underemployed. Trust me, the vast majority of them aren't throwing parties to toast "falling" unemployment. There's another reason why the official rate is misleading. Say you're an out-of-work engineer or healthcare worker or construction worker or retail manager: If you perform a minimum of one hour of work in a week and are paid at least $20 -- maybe someone pays you to mow their lawn -- you're not officially counted as unemployed in the much-reported 5.6%. Few Americans know this. Yet another figure of importance that doesn't get much press: those working part time but wanting full-time work. If you have a degree in chemistry or math and are working 10 hours part time because it is all you can find -- in other words, you are severely underemployed -- the government doesn't count you in the 5.6%. Few Americans know this. There's no other way to say this. The official unemployment rate, which cruelly overlooks the suffering of the long-term and often permanently unemployed as well as the depressingly underemployed, amounts to a Big Lie. And it's a lie that has consequences, because the great American dream is to have a good job, and in recent years, America has failed to deliver that dream more than it has at any time in recent memory. A good job is an individual's primary identity, their very self-worth, their dignity -- it establishes the relationship they have with their friends, community and country. When we fail to deliver a good job that fits a citizen's talents, training and experience, we are failing the great American dream. Gallup defines a good job as 30+ hours per week for an organization that provides a regular paycheck. Right now, the U.S. is delivering at a staggeringly low rate of 44%, which is the number of full-time jobs as a percent of the adult population, 18 years and older. We need that to be 50% and a bare minimum of 10 million new, good jobs to replenish America's middle class. I hear all the time that "unemployment is greatly reduced, but the people aren't feeling it." When the media, talking heads, the White House and Wall Street start reporting the truth -- the percent of Americans in good jobs; jobs that are full time and real -- then we will quit wondering why Americans aren't "feeling" something that doesn't remotely reflect the reality in their lives. And we will also quit wondering what hollowed out the middle class. Jim Clifton is Chairman and CEO at Gallup. http://www.gallup.com/opinion/chairman/181469/big-lie-unemployment.aspx
padroo	Has the formula to do the calculation for unemployment changed? We do need good paying jobs in this country, the sad part is the largest companies don't lead by example and don't value their employees that make them their money. As more and more automation takes more and more jobs there will not be enough good paying jobs in the future. Robots will eventually replace even third world country cheap labor.
mslc10	Then we need to stop producing so many offspring.......if we don't have jobs then we don't need to produce humans for them. Now that's a twist isn't it? ------------------ Caution: I AM an Armed Infidel! Make em eat pork! This message has been edited by mslc10 on 02-03-2015 at 09:11 PM
BeWare	quote: Originally posted by padroo: Has the formula to do the calculation for unemployment changed? . I doubt that the formula has changed but the point I think is that maybe it should be. Other than the great depression has there ever been a sustained period of time when so many people after losing their jobs have given up looking for work or have been forced to work part time and/or for much lower salaries? The second point because of these factors is should there be so much celebration with these numbers?
bjprowler	It's called the US Labor Force Participation Rate* and it's been in a steady decline since Yomamma became president. Through December, 2014 only 62.70% of eligible American workers were EVEN LOOKING FOR A JOB!..... The lower this number gets compared to the number of people who actually are working THE LOWER THE UNEMPLOYMENT RATE APPEARS....According to this governmental formula we could say that HIGH UNEMPLOYMENT IS CAUSED BY THOSE NASTY OLD PEOPLE WHO WON'T GIVE UP LOOKING FOR A JOB! lol * The LFPR is where an unemployed person is defined as "a person not currently employed but actively seeking work." Take a look here: http://ycharts.com/indicators/labor_force_participation_rate This message has been edited by bjprowler on 02-04-2015 at 10:34 AM
Michael Pond	Have you noticed that the more the government gets involved in our lives, the worst things get!! Do you wonder why the work week will be under 30hrs? Why there will be more part time jobs? Does Obama Care ring a bell? How about the people who create jobs, those rich, small business owners and farmers who will be taxed out of existance so the welfare roles and government can grow! If people in this country want to see what government can do for them, go to a third world country. The fat cats are the government and the rest are poor. No big screens, cell phones, and wondering where their next meal will be.
Me Time	I'd be dancing in the street if unemployment were under 7%.
padroo	The recession caused a lot of people near retirement age to start looking for a new job and as unemployment benefits ran out a lot of them just took Social Security early. I was one of the lucky ones, I worked for four different companies, one of those went bankrupt and never missed a days work or paycheck because of it. My pension suffered though.
bjprowler	Another year or so under the messiah's rule and then four years of queen Hillary ought to just about do us in.... We'll all be "retired", so to speak.
bjprowler	This just in..... "Gallup CEO agrees that 5.6% rate is BS" http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2015/02/04/ceo-venerable-gallup-calls-jobless-rate-big-lie-put-forth-by-white-house-wall/
mslc10	New Jobless Claims at 265K, Lowest Since April 2000" And this is good news of the current administration? Talk about polishing a turd! Just reflect on that number ..... That's 265,000 "new" jobless claims....weekly! 265,000 people lost a job last week! At that number That's over 13 million people loosing a job this year! At that number That's 186 million people claiming loosing a job in 14 years. That's at 265k ....it's been over 300k usually! Still think we are in a "recovery"??? ------------------ Caution: I AM an Armed Infidel! Make em eat pork! This message has been edited by mslc10 on 02-04-2015 at 08:40 PM
mslc10	quote: Originally posted by Michael Pond: Have you noticed that the more the government gets involved in our lives, the worst things get!! Do you wonder why the work week will be under 30hrs? Why there will be more part time jobs? Does Obama Care ring a bell? How about the people who create jobs, those rich, small business owners and farmers who will be taxed out of existance so the welfare roles and government can grow! If people in this country want to see what government can do for them, go to a third world country. The fat cats are the government and the rest are poor. No big screens, cell phones, and wondering where their next meal will be. “The most terrifying words in the English language are: I'm from the government and I'm here to help.” ― Ronald Reagan “Government exists to protect us from each other. Where government has gone beyond its limits is in deciding to protect us from ourselves.” ― Ronald Reagan ------------------ Caution: I AM an Armed Infidel! Make em eat pork! This message has been edited by mslc10 on 02-04-2015 at 08:45 PM
bjprowler	That phony number will continue to improve if Odumbo gets his way and more and more people give up looking for work... He's determined to prove old Abe was wrong when he said "You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can not fool all of the people all of the time". The Pied Piper of government dependency/socialism already has the 47% convinced.....
padroo	I personally don't known anyone out of work.
bjprowler	Hear what Mr Gallup has to say..... http://video.foxnews.com/v/4034047728001/gallup-ceo-jobless-rate-a-big-lie-created-by-white-house/?intcmp=obnetwork#sp=show-clips