How is it possible to have a 5.5% unemployment rate....?

[kentuck]

When we have 1.5 million less people employed now than in the year 2000? How is it possible if we have to have 150,000+ jobs per month added just to stay even - with new people coming into the workforce? (That would be about 1.8 million per year) And Bush comes on the old TV and brags about a 5.5% unemployment rate! Can someone do the math and tell me how is it possible?

[Democat]

1. Fuzzy math?

:)

[Joe Turner]

8. It Isn't

The labor department no longer includes workers whose unemployment benefits have run out. Those folks drop off the unemployment numbers. More importantly, even part-time work say flipping burgers at McDonalds when you are a skilled but laid off engineer count in the employment figures. What's the old saying: Figures Lie and Liars Figure. That's what it is all about with this criminal adminstration.

If they calculated unemployment the old way it would be MUCH MUCH higher and the rate of underemployment would be staggering.

Welcome to the Bush Economy! Just don't look at that man behind the curtain.

[LostInAnomie]

2. They don't count people who's unemployment has ran out

eom

[WindRavenX]

3. those who stop looking for jobs are not factored into the unemployment #s

IIRC, after your unemployed benifits dry up, you are not counted.
It doesn't take much of a brain to figure out that the 5.5% unemployment rate is much lower than the actual number of Americans that are without work.

[AndyTiedye]

4. Those Who've Been Out of Work Too Long to Collect Unemployment Don't Count

They also don't count those who have given up looking for work.

They don't count those who have attempted to enter the workforce
during the current economic malaise and have never found permanent
employment. The rate must be very high for these people, since they
are competing for jobs with applicants who have years of experience.

They don't count those who have only held temporary jobs for the
past few years, even if they are unemployed now.

If you counted all of them, what would the unemployment rate be?

[janx]

5. Good question. How is this measured?

My guess is that it is measured by unemploment claims--and that would be wildly innacurate since Chimpy came into office.

How is it measured?

[Lydia Leftcoast]

6. They don't count people who are working part-time

but who would prefer to work full-time. If you do paid work even one hour per week, you are not counted as unemployed.

Years ago, a colleague from Germany told me that the reason European countries seemed to have higher unemployment rates was that they actually counted all their unemployed people instead of letting them slip out of the statistics.

[Yavin4]

7. The Real Unemployment Stat Is The U6 Figure

which is about 9.5%. That figure includes marginally attached workers.

[Elidor]

9. It's simple! Don't count the unemployed!

I'm going to have to transcribe Jim Hightower's rant on unemployment figures and post a link to it someday soon, because I'm getting tired of looking up the salient points and re-typing them.

How do you get a 5.5% rate? You lie through your teeth.