Is Actual Unemployment Rate Nearing 20 Percent?

Bob McCarty Writes ^ | 4-16-10 | Bob McCarty

[BobMcCartyWrites]

The Obama Administration appears to be floating a "trial balloon" to test public reaction to unemployment numbers double the 9.7 percent they so often tout.

[BobMcCartyWrites]

After a friend of mine, who is a senior producer for The Hannity Show radio program, shared a link to an Associated Press article published yesterday, I began to wonder if the Obama Administration might be using its minions in the state-run media (a.k.a., Associated Press), to float a "trial balloon" to test public reaction to unemployment numbers that could be double the 9.7 percent so often touted during the past few months.

Incredibly, the second paragraph of the article mentions a what-if kind of unemployment rate of 17 percent among working-age Americans.

Immediately, I flashed back 24 hours to my piece, Business Owner Says Economy Not Turning Around, in which an Ohio-based small business owner offered his observations about the state of the economy. Rick Misch told me -- and it appears about halfway into the aforementioned article -- that his numbers paint a terrible economic picture of actual unemployment “north of 20 percent.”

Misch, president and co-owner of Phoenix Research, Inc., said he based his estimate on the traffic he sees running through his Phoenix Research, a courthouse research company that provides on-site criminal records checks for some 750 employment screening companies across the United States by way of a network of approximately 1,500 subcontractors working in almost every county in the nation.

In 2001, his company was handling approximately 3,000 individual criminal history searches per day. Today, they're handling 150. Translation: Businesses are not hiring.

Again, I'm just wondering.

[softwarecreator]

Is Actual Unemployment Rate Nearing 20 Percent?

Oh, I think we passed 20% a few miles back.

If Obama passes cap-n-trade we can aspire to hit 25%!

[unkus]

Oh, I think we passed 20% a few miles back.

If Obama passes cap-n-trade we can aspire to hit 25%!

---

Probably closer to 35%.

[ikka]

shadowstats.com

[mlocher]

“If they want to help people like me, they need to cut taxes across the board and get the venture capital back in the game,” he said. “There’s no incentive for small businesses to hire.”

The first word in the quote is the key word, and should be italicized.

[Ballygrl]

You know what ticks me off? I was listening to Larry Kudlow’s radio show a few weeks ago and he was saying the economy is turning around and the job numbers would be getting better, then he went on a rant about some Fox News Commentators (he didn’t name them) and saying that for partisan reasons they’re not seeing the real good numbers. Well Larry, you still think the numbers are good?

[SaraJohnson]

Larry is always wrong sooner or later because he only has one pet - it is a bull. Bears are like Yetis to him.

[FateAmenableToChange]

Or criminal background checks are not as important to employers any more.

[444Flyer]

bookmark

[Texas resident]

There is no way the obama media will report the real unemployment numbers and I would be shocked if they raise the number even to an even 10%. The numbers they report are fraudulent because they don’t count those who have given up looking for work, so their numbers cannot be trusted. When GW Bush was in office, the unemployment numbers were around 4 or 5% and the democrat party’s media was howling. Companies don’t hire unless they are growing and this admin is purposefully crushing growth.

[Gaffer]

Well there’s the classical ‘on unemployment’ and have ‘given up’ categories. But as in the Star Wars line, “There is another!” It is the group of leech, loser
Americans on Welfare, AFDC, EITC, WICs, Section 8 Housing, and all the rest of the non-working dependent ‘legal’ citizens who can’t take care of themselves. If you add that, maybe 60% ‘constructively unemployed’.....

[The Sons of Liberty]

I absolutely agree with your estimate.

0bamao and the dims don't care how high the unemployment rate gets, because they see it as a way to consolidate power by doling out handouts and controlling the people. They may feel differently when the population decides otherwise.

[meanie monster]

Does the self employed get counted?

[ChinaGotTheGoodsOnClinton]

I think the actual unemployment rate is being under reported as well.

If anyone has any actual evidence of this, I’d like to see it.

Thanks!

CGTGOC

[machogirl]

yes. from my own experience.

[backhoe]

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2493566/posts?page=76#76

Georgia coast...

Storefronts emptying out...

Most prestigious Realtor’s office shuttered...

For Sale signs on lots of homes... commercial real estate... businesses. Frequently with “ask about our new low commissions...”

Employment agencies- closed, except for the manpower types that cater to day labor...

My guess is 20% unemployed, often after going through several other jobs that did not pan out.
( Addenda- my further guess is unemployment among young black folks to be around 50%— this is empirical, from “walkin’ and talkin’ to people” around town. )

It’s grim- as a quip I saw said:

“The New Wealth?
Having a job...”

[softwarecreator]

Probably closer to 35%.

you are probably closer to the actual number than I am.

[unkus]

We’ll meet in the middle at 30%. How’s 30% for Hope and Change? LOL/s