Just like context is context. Here are some facts. Read them, and please pay particular attention to the second paragraph:
The UI [Unemployment Insurance] figures are not produced by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Statistics on insured unemployment in the United States are collected as a by-product of UI programs. Workers who lose their jobs and are covered by these programs typically file claims ("initial claims") that serve as notice that they are beginning a period of unemployment. Claimants who qualify for benefits are counted in the insured unemployment figures (as "continued claims"). Data on UI claims are maintained by the Employment and Training Administration, an agency of the U.S. Department of Labor, and are available on the Internet at: http://workforcesecurity.doleta.gov/unemploy/claims.asp.
These data are not used to measure total unemployment because they exclude several important groups. To begin with, not all workers are covered by UI programs. For example, self-employed workers, unpaid family workers, workers in certain not-for-profit organizations, and several other small (primarily seasonal) worker categories are not covered. In addition, the insured unemployed exclude the following:
- Unemployed workers who have exhausted their benefits
- Unemployed workers who have not yet earned benefit rights (such as new entrants or reentrants to the labor force)
- Disqualified workers whose unemployment is considered to have resulted from their own actions rather than from economic conditions; for example, a worker discharged for misconduct on the job
- Otherwise eligible unemployed persons who do not file for benefits
Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics
Um, your own post proves you wrong. Have you actually read it. It states that all of those types of unemployed are NOT counted in the number. Meaning the only people who are included in the UE figures are those who are able to collect insurable benefits. Which is the point all of us have been making. See the following paragraph in which it states that these types of workers are not included in the number. But does that make them employed?
“These data are not used to measure total unemployment because they exclude several important groups. To begin with, not all workers are covered by UI programs. For example, self-employed workers, unpaid family workers, workers in certain not-for-profit organizations, and several other small (primarily seasonal) worker categories are not covered. In addition, the insured unemployed exclude the following:
Unemployed workers who have exhausted their benefits- Shouldn’t they be counted?
Unemployed workers who have not yet earned benefit rights (such as new entrants or reentrants to the labor force- shouldn’t they be counted? They are not working...
Disqualified workers whose unemployment is considered to have resulted from their own actions rather than from economic conditions; for example, a worker discharged for misconduct on the job. Again, are they working?
Otherwise eligible unemployed persons who do not file for benefits” Do they now have a job?
What about all of those small business owners who lost their business? They are not eligible to file most likely. Are they employed? The people above, are they employed?
People who worked commission only jobs who lost them. They are not eligible but are they somehow not worty of being counted?
The point we are all making is that insured UE benefits are not a reliable way to determine the real unemployment rate. Workforce participation is much more reliable. You may want to go back to DU and inform them that your attempt to protect your boy Obama has not worked. Those are the facts.