Trump puts true US unemployment rate at 20 percent

www.presstv.ir...

Presumptive US Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has challenged President Barack Obama’s claim regarding the country’s unemployment rate of five percent. "We have tremendous deficits. Don't believe the 5 percent. The real [unemployment] number is 20 percent," Trump said

“The United States is dying from within, its domestic infrastructure is crumbling and successive administrations have wasted $5 trillion in the Middle East instead of using the money to create jobs and prosperity at home,” he added.

“The actual unemployment rate, that is, the rate that includes Americans who have given up hope of finding employment, is 23%. Currently, there are 94,691,000 Americans of working age who are not in the labor force,” WOW, if these figures are factual that close to 95 million people are unemployed, and depend on welfare and other give-outs then the US economy has a big,big problem. As a non citizen of the US, i would ask for comments from both sides of the political fence.....

originally posted by: tommo39
www.presstv.ir...

Presumptive US Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has challenged President Barack Obama’s claim regarding the country’s unemployment rate of five percent. "We have tremendous deficits. Don't believe the 5 percent. The real [unemployment] number is 20 percent," Trump said

“The United States is dying from within, its domestic infrastructure is crumbling and successive administrations have wasted $5 trillion in the Middle East instead of using the money to create jobs and prosperity at home,” he added.

“The actual unemployment rate, that is, the rate that includes Americans who have given up hope of finding employment, is 23%. Currently, there are 94,691,000 Americans of working age who are not in the labor force,” WOW, if these figures are factual that close to 95 million people are unemployed, and depend on welfare and other give-outs then the US economy has a big,big problem. As a non citizen of the US, i would ask for comments from both sides of the political fence.....

They should include the "under employed". So his figures are probably quite true, his words are not always "direct to the point" because he is smart enough not to insult the under employed trying to cut out a living.

a reply to: tommo39
To try and preserve president Obama's legacy using the liberal propaganda machine , those that have left the work force entirely or underemployed are not counted . And no , I will not capitalize the p in this case . Tke Libs are trying DESPERATELY , by hook or crook , to find something anything to leave a good mark with. Aint happening and probably not going to.
Yes , we get it. Obama was a first. Now , lets get over ourselves and pull the US back off the brink

a reply to: tommo39

Yes, indeed. Trump is a bloviating buffoon who yelps nonsense half the time and who wails ignorant rubbish the other half. You can't take anything he says seriously. Especially because when challenged he takes it back and claims that he never said it.

a reply to: tommo39

Well, another free trade agreement along with a non-existent border enforcement policy should do the US economy just fine I would say.

This isn't the first time that Trumpster has lied through his teeth about this. He's claimed it before.

Trump may be more right then some of you think. If the national labor participation rates are correct then we have about 37% of Americans not working or about 120 million. Now how old you have to be to be included in that number I'm not sure, but to have nearly 40% of the population to be out of work sounds like a lot.

a reply to: avgguy

Trump lies a lot. When people catch him out he denies that he said what he did. So in other words he lies to cover his lies.

a reply to: tommo39

Trump is right. Too many rely on government aid now, just to survive.

1/3rd of our country is dependent on some sort of government aid.

We only have about 1/3rd actually working.

About half of that group is only paying taxes.

So 1/6th of the population is taking care of the rest of the country and being taxed to death.

The Unemployment rate is determined by a variety of sources. Trump seems to be like many people confused and thinks that the rate comes from people filling for or on employment. That is a measure of newly unemployed but, now how the government gets the unemployment rate. They use the Current Population Survey (CPS) and have been since the 1940's. And t break down to unemployed and looking, unemployed and have given up looking (both are go into the rate and then those who are employed and those who are unemployed but not employed but do not want or need to work. The survey includes every body 16 and up. It is a very statistical and scientific measurement. Of course unemployment insurance, people paying into and getting paid by SSI, employers FICA reporting and a variety of methods states use to figure state unemployment levels are compared to CPS data to make sure nothing is out of whack. So, pretty much the rate is the rate. Random guessing by Trump or other people fall aside when they find out how much really goes into it.

a reply to: AngryCymraeg

As much as Trump talks out of the wrong end of his body, he is correct on the unemployment rate.

Acutual Unemployment Rate

If you choose to believe the cooked up numbers the Govt. provides with their voodoo math, that's your prerogative. But knowing what your talking about tends to go a long way for ones credibility.

a reply to: MrSpad

It's the unemployment rate. It's not rocket surgery, people are either employed or not. The Govt., through obfuscation and bureaucracy has succeeded in making it into a complicated mess that is very difficult to weed through for the average American.

The 5% they are parroting is a joke.

He's right and wrong. the 20% is absurd, not even worth discussing.

The issue is the "real jobs" are dying. Full time with benefits and paid time off is dying. It is all moving to the walmart model, 20-32 hours per week, and that's it.

Trump can blame obama, obama can blame bush, but the reality is we don't make stuff an export it like we used to and that's a "we the people" problem. If you want to blame clinton for NAFTA, you have to acknowledge it was Reagans dream first. This isn't a political party thing, this is a global thing. As other nations rise, we are eroded. Its all connected.

Its a service economy, and most new jobs pay $18,000 to $25,000 a year.

a reply to: syrinx high priest

You bring up a really good point.

Too many are focusing on service jobs and 15/hour and no one is talking about the 60k, 70k, 80k jobs that we have lost.

originally posted by: MrSpad
The Unemployment rate is determined by a variety of sources. Trump seems to be like many people confused and thinks that the rate comes from people filling for or on employment. That is a measure of newly unemployed but, now how the government gets the unemployment rate. They use the Current Population Survey (CPS) and have been since the 1940's. And t break down to unemployed and looking, unemployed and have given up looking (both are go into the rate and then those who are employed and those who are unemployed but not employed but do not want or need to work. The survey includes every body 16 and up. It is a very statistical and scientific measurement. Of course unemployment insurance, people paying into and getting paid by SSI, employers FICA reporting and a variety of methods states use to figure state unemployment levels are compared to CPS data to make sure nothing is out of whack. So, pretty much the rate is the rate. Random guessing by Trump or other people fall aside when they find out how much really goes into it.

To clear up any confusion strait from the BLS itself.

BLS

There are about 60,000 eligible households in the sample for this survey. This translates into approximately 110,000 individuals each month, a large sample compared to public opinion surveys, which usually cover fewer than 2,000 people. The CPS sample is selected so as to be representative of the entire population of the United States. In order to select the sample, all of the counties and independent cities in the country first are grouped into approximately 2,000 geographic areas (sampling units). The Census Bureau then designs and selects a sample of about 800 of these geographic areas to represent each state and the District of Columbia. The sample is a state-based design and reflects urban and rural areas, different types of industrial and farming areas, and the major geographic divisions of each state.

Every month, one-fourth of the households in the sample are changed, so that no household is interviewed for more than 4 consecutive months. After a household is interviewed for 4 consecutive months, it leaves the sample for 8 months, and then is again interviewed for the same 4 calendar months a year later, before leaving the sample for good. As a result, approximately 75 percent of the sample remains the same from month to month and 50 percent remains the same from year to year. This procedure strengthens the reliability of estimates of month-to-month and year-to-year change in the data.

originally posted by: MrSpad
The Unemployment rate is determined by a variety of sources. Trump seems to be like many people confused and thinks that the rate comes from people filling for or on employment. That is a measure of newly unemployed but, now how the government gets the unemployment rate. They use the Current Population Survey (CPS) and have been since the 1940's. And t break down to unemployed and looking, unemployed and have given up looking (both are go into the rate and then those who are employed and those who are unemployed but not employed but do not want or need to work. The survey includes every body 16 and up. It is a very statistical and scientific measurement. Of course unemployment insurance, people paying into and getting paid by SSI, employers FICA reporting and a variety of methods states use to figure state unemployment levels are compared to CPS data to make sure nothing is out of whack. So, pretty much the rate is the rate. Random guessing by Trump or other people fall aside when they find out how much really goes into it.

To clear up any confusion strait from the BLS itself.

BLS

There are about 60,000 eligible households in the sample for this survey. This translates into approximately 110,000 individuals each month, a large sample compared to public opinion surveys, which usually cover fewer than 2,000 people. The CPS sample is selected so as to be representative of the entire population of the United States. In order to select the sample, all of the counties and independent cities in the country first are grouped into approximately 2,000 geographic areas (sampling units). The Census Bureau then designs and selects a sample of about 800 of these geographic areas to represent each state and the District of Columbia. The sample is a state-based design and reflects urban and rural areas, different types of industrial and farming areas, and the major geographic divisions of each state.

Every month, one-fourth of the households in the sample are changed, so that no household is interviewed for more than 4 consecutive months. After a household is interviewed for 4 consecutive months, it leaves the sample for 8 months, and then is again interviewed for the same 4 calendar months a year later, before leaving the sample for good. As a result, approximately 75 percent of the sample remains the same from month to month and 50 percent remains the same from year to year. This procedure strengthens the reliability of estimates of month-to-month and year-to-year change in the data.

a reply to: tommo39

The 95 million number is often reported on the US Business channels.

The unemployment problem is quite complex and the gov't doesn't count people who've quit looking for work, those that have "dropped out" of the labor market, so the gov't figure is artificially low at around 5% unemployment. Alternate methods of calculating the US unemployment rate at shadowstats.com put the unemployment rate north of 20%.

The issue is quite politicized so discussing it rationally on a forum is near impossible.
Have a good day.

a reply to: DBCowboy

To clear up more confusion.

NAM

There are 12.33 million manufacturing workers in the United States, accounting for 9 percent of the workforce. In addition, manufacturing supports an estimated 18.5 million jobs in the United States—about one in six private-sector jobs. - See more at: www.nam.org...

In 2014, the average manufacturing worker in the United States earned $79,553 annually, including pay and benefits. The average worker in all industries earned $64,204. Looking specifically at wages, the average manufacturing worker earned $25.19 per hour, according to the latest figures, not including benefits. - See more at: www.nam.org...

money.cnn.com...

U.S. has lost 5 million manufacturing jobs since 2000

If we go to the Bureau of Labor Statistics website we can see for ourselves that it has plummeted.

Bureau of Labor Statistics- Unemployment



It's evident that the initial claims put out about fixing the economy were only temporary

a reply to: DBCowboy

My wife had a great situation, and lost it in 2007. She has struggled mightily since then. She is employed, but makes half of what she used to.

Entire job categories are dying. I can't remember the last receptionist I saw. Office workers do the work of 3 people.

I live near Danbury Connecticut, used to be a big manufacturing city. I drive by the dead factories every day.

Those weren't head of household jobs, but it was full time with some benefits and holidays.