[Marguerite]

Just check out this paragraph from the Labor Department's report:

"In January, 2.8 million persons were marginally attached to the labor force, essentially unchanged from a year earlier. (The data are not seasonally adjusted.) These individuals were not in the labor force, wanted and were available for work, and had looked for a job sometime in the prior 12 months. 2.8 million were not counted as unemployed because they had not searched for work in the 4 weeks preceding the survey."

That's HOW they are cooking the numbers, by not counting millions of unemployed Americans!!!

[IMR 4350]

They also don't count people that have never been in the labor pool and are looking for work, nor do they count the self employed that lost their business or contract jobs.

The only people being counted are people receiving unemployment.

I would be willing to bet the 16.3% figure you give is probably too low, but closer to reality than the 11%.