‘Official’ job numbers don’t tell the whole story

[Lagomorph]

Government jobs data are only estimates. The "official" numbers don't include everyone who wants and needs a fulltime paycheck.

I want to know why the government/news does not report the unemployment rate correctly? Counting people who are no longer collecting unemployment, never received unemployment because they didn’t qualify or people who are working part time just to have a little income - it’s more like 19-22 percent. Why don’t they report honestly?
- Ruth W., Texas

The data is there if you’re willing to dig for it. Unfortunately, as you point out, the “official” unemployment rate badly understates just how truly awful the job market is right now. And since most news reports rely on that “official” number, the real picture is not widely understood.

One reason for this is that discussions about the “real” unemployment rate often degenerate into a rant about the government’s inability to collect accurate statistics. As we’ll see shortly, the data are all there for anyone who wants to look.

As for why this story isn’t reported “honestly,” we tend to give the participants the benefit of the doubt. It’s entirely possible that government statisticians put their thumb on the numbers to make them look “better” than they really are. In our experience, the folks at the Bureau of Labor Statistics take their work seriously and try to get it right. So do most of the news outlets that report the “official” number every month. Unfortunately, in a deep recession, that number just doesn’t tell the whole story.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33377328/ns/business-personal_finance//

[dschis]

1. Amen brother

[CoffeeCat]

2. does anyone know...how unemployment numbers...

....were figured during the Great Depression?

It seems like we're on a very similar trajectory. Both economic events began with stock-market
crashed that were preceded by money flowing to the upper echelon and draining from the middle
and lower classes.

Interesting to note that one year after Black Friday--in 1930, the unemployment rate was 8.9 percent.

Many people echo the mantra, and it is common for a media commentator to say, "WELL...we certainly
don't have the 25 percent unemployment that they had during the Great Depression, that's for sure!"

Unemployment hit 23 percent in 1932. It took a few years for the economic repercussions of
those days to peak.

I'd love to know how the data gathering back then, compares to today.

[fasttense]

3. It is my understanding that unemployment was not monitored

prior to the 1st Republicon Great Depression. It was only after FDR came in that the unemployment numbers were compiled in order to understand what was going on in the real economy.

What you hear about as unemployment rates during the 1st Republicon Great Depression are only estimates.

But some estimates are better than nothing. At Wiki they have the highest level reached as 21% not 25%.

It is also interesting to note that the GDP was estimated as growing in 1933 yet the 1st Republicon Great Depression continued for another six years.