[MarkeyD]

Unemployment numbers does not count the millions of people who are underemployed, "involuntary part-time" workers (those who are working part-time, but want to work full-time), those who have lost their jobs and have become discouraged over time from actively looking for work, those who have retired before the official retirement age but would still like to work, etc.

You hear this all the time from the DU crowd but I've never seen much info to back it up.

[MikeA]

In case you did not see my reply to this same guy, here is something about that comment of his:

Most economists will tell you the number of underemployed or discouraged employment seekers are around another 1 percentage point above the official unemployment numbers during a period of growing GDP AS WE HAVE NOW, and a little more in a recessionary period. Economists say it is always typical to have another 1 percentage point beyond the unemployment rate of the chronically unemployed or underemployed. There will always even in the best economy, and this is shaping up to be one of them, going to be a group of people who just can't seem to find steady work. A big part of it is their own lack of education and skills more than anything about the economy itself. The fact is the US economy is beginning to show signs of labor shortages.

[speekinout]

Unemployment numbers do, however, count all of the people who are collecting unemployment for one reason or another. Many people choose to collect for the maximum amount of time before they go back to work.

We could reduce unemployment by just shortening the amount of time that benefits would be paid.