America's 20 Percent Unemployment Rate

America's 20 Percent Unemployment Rate

www.truthout.org

Measuring unemployment is an art that can result in widely varied rates. Not surprisingly, the U.S. Government uses a method that excludes millions of Americans seeking employment. This lower rate is used to prove that America's economic system is superior to those in Europe. Their higher unemployment rates are blamed on unions and socialism, which guarantee workers health care and paid vacations. The implication is that while many American workers lack such benefits, at least they have jobs. This argument is faulty since unemployment is measured differently.

In the USA, 35% of healthy Americans ages 16-64 are unemployed, but what does that word mean? Millions of women are unemployed as they choose to stay home to raise families. Nevertheless, 25% of healthy American men ages 16-64 are unemployed, yet the U.S. Government reports an unemployment rate of just 8.1%.[1]

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Article continued... The 25% rate is from an annual federal survey last conducted in June 2008, well before the current economic slump added millions to the "official" unemployment rate of 8.1% for March 6, 2009. The 25% rate is the ratio of healthy American men ages 16-64 not working. This is misleading because it includes the two million Americans behind bars, while most 16 and 17-year olds remain in school. It also includes millions of Americans who voluntarily retire before age 65 and house-husbands who care for children while their wife works.

Nevertheless, an honest man would count anyone who would like to work as unemployed. The U.S. Government compiles data on these uncounted unemployed Americans, but does not mention it in news releases. It can be found in Table A-12 on the Department of Labor's website where it shows an unemployment rate of 16% for Feb. 2009.[2] It explains why these unemployed Americans are not included in their official unemployment rate:

"Marginally attached workers are persons who currently are neither working nor looking for work but indicate that they want and are available for a job and have looked for work sometime in the recent past. Discouraged workers, a subset of the marginally attached, have given a job-market related reason for not looking currently for a job. Persons employed part time for economic reasons are those who want and are available for full-time work but have had to settle for a part-time schedule."

In typical government doublespeak, it notes they are not "looking for work" but want work and "have looked for work in the recent past." As a result, these people who want to work are not counted as unemployed. This 16% figure does not include a few million Americans who excluded by the survey parameters for these reasons:

# Students seeking work are never counted as unemployed. So anyone taking college classes at night and seeking a full-time day job is not counted as unemployed.
# Pensioners seeking work are never counted as unemployed. This includes those who receive a minimal monthly pension because they retired early, often forcibly. Soldiers in the U.S. military can retire with a small pension as young as age 37, yet they must find work to support their family. However, they are classified as retired and not counted as unemployed.
# Anyone seeking a full-time job who works a few unpaid hours a week at a family farm or small business is not counted as unemployed.
# People seeking their first job, such as recent high school and college graduates, and housewives are excluded. The logic is that since they were never employed, they are not unemployed.

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So yea, I don't know, the gov't is trying to make it look like we are doing better than we actually are, im not sure why i posted this.

Good post, there are still quite a few out in the world that do not know how the system works.
And it does not hurt to remind people what the true amount of out of work people there really are, that way when they see the news they can understand what they are not being told.

Originally posted by iamjesusphish
So yea, I don't know, the gov't is trying to make it look like we are doing better than we actually are, im not sure why i posted this.

I'm guessing you posted this because subconsciously you know that the government is lying and skewing numbers to their benefit.

I for one know the unemployment is very high, the sheeple are just in denial.

Star and Flag.

Statistics are used to support a position and can be twisted to show just about anything.

Who really knows what the unemployment rate is, all I know is that is rising fast and you better keep your head above water.

Well if there is one simple fact I have learned from all of this it is that the numbers are a joke. If you want to really see how many people are unemployed just go to your local food pantry or homeless shelters or any of the other places the hard hit go to get help and compare it to what you seen a few years ago and so on. There is ever growing numbers of people and the last year has skyrocketed. I would know as I am one of the unemployed at the moment
I hate it when the msm uses these numbers because they are not reflecting the reality happening. Not to sound grim but it's obvious to most people now that the numbers are much MUCH higher than what the numbers are showing.

I think this number is skewed high, the official is low.

Someone said a rough estimate of the true figure is twice the official, so around 16.2% would mean about 1/6. Does this sound reasonable?

www.abovetopsecret.com...

The U-3 unemployment isn't 9.7%. That is a beautiful lie. The reality for August was 10.98% or thereabouts,whilst september U-3 will be 11.55%.
They will no doubt not even change it for September.

And U-6 (include all the people who have stopped looking for work,which is millions + all the housewives and mothers who are in the same boat, they aren't loking for work. And there are at least 10 million housewives in the USA who fall under that category)
And I'm not even adding people who have part-time jobs. Without them alone the U-6 is 20.3% and september will be around 21.4%

25 percent by the end of Decemer !

This 9.7% is a joke. People are falling off the jobless claims in hundreds of thosuands each month now and STILL unemployment is rising.

34% by June U-6

reply to post by Valeri


Your "reality" is based on a prediction made several months ago. It uses statistics gathering the unemployment rate of change for several months. It then projects this rate onto upcoming months and makes a rough assumption. Obviously the assumption was wrong. I don't think government is lying on the u-3 raw data, they've just chosen to omit the changes in how unemployment is calculated, when the media references the great depression's numbers.

It's half-truths. Lies, yes, but not the data itself. Just in the presentation. 10.98% is NOT an official number, and has no "reality" to it.