So the media starts telling us that the Obama administration is doing great, and Unemployment is now at a 20 year low – it’s only 4% they tell us. What complete and UTTER BOLLOCKS!
Unemployment is NOT 4%. It just isn’t.
Now I don’t want you to take my word for it – after all, I’m just some guy on the internet – right??!?
What I want you to do, is to educate yourself – start with this Forbes.com article: Why The ‘Real’ Unemployment Rate Is Higher Than You Think
Here are some quotes from the forbes.com article:
First, when the latest jobs report was released on Friday morning. It was generally heralded as a good report — for good reason. According to initial Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates, the U.S. gained nearly 200,000 jobs in June, and another 70,000 jobs appear to have been discovered in April and May. As a result, the nation’s official unemployment rate held steady at 7.6%; not great, but miles better than the 10% unemployment rate that the U.S. flirted with between 2009 and 2010.
and
There’s a strong argument that given the Great Recession’s damage to the economy, and because millions of Americans like G. have simply given up their job search, the U-6 rate is a more accurate reflection of national employment. Like the “official” rate, the U-6 essentially doubled between 2007 and 2009; unlike the official rate, it’s not coming down as fast. But most news organizations don’t cover the U-6 rate, and many economists don’t focus on it. (Donald Marron of the Brookings Institution was among the few economists who regularly monitored it through the recession and the recovery;
and
One reason that the U-6 rate remains so high is because it’s so hard to get back into the workforce once you’ve been out for months — whether perception or reality, many employers see these would-be workers as damaged goods.
So – we need to look at the stats figure known as the U-6 rate to know how well the jobs market is doing – and here is another way to understand it, and a phrase that explains it quite well I think: “U-6 is a broader measure of unemployment including discouraged workers and many consider U-6 to be”the Real Unemployment Rate” See: What is U-6 Unemployment? for the full definition of U-6 Unemployment.”
So – what exactly is the U-6 rate now?
From – the U-6 rate as of today (12/03/2016) – is 9%. Yes – unemployment is NOT 4% as the media and the administration would have you believe – it is NINE PERCENT!!
Unemployment is NOT 4%