Posted on 03/09/2012 10:49:29 AM PST by Steelfish
Jobless Stats Reveal Disparities As economy Starts To Recover March 09, 2012
While the Labor Department reports a surge in private-sector hiring and the nation's unemployment rate holding steady at 8.3 percent, a closer look at the numbers paints a less flattering picture of the country's post-recession growth.
The latest report for February shows lingering economic disparities among different segments of the population. And, as has been the case for decades, the unemployment rate used by the Bureau of Labor Statistics does not tell the whole story.
Counting only those Americans who are actively looking for work, the jobless rate is 8.3 percent, just like it was in January. But counting those who stopped looking for work within the last year, the rate is 9.8 percent. And counting all of the above, plus those who settled for part-time jobs, the rate is 14.9 percent.
"Everybody who has friends knows it's higher," Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., told Fox News.
Hunter is pushing legislation that would require the Bureau of Labor Statistics to broaden its definition for the unemployment rate. He wants the department to count those who stopped looking for work as well, which would put last month's rate at 9.8 percent.
"We just want to know what the truth is, because we can't make good policy here unless we know what the actual unemployment number is," Hunter told Fox News on Thursday, ahead of the latest labor report release. "It's not 8 percent -- anybody who's out there in the real world knows that. We need real numbers, not D.C. numbers."
Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/03/09/jobless-stats-reveal-disparities-as-economy-starts-to-recover/
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
Unemployment statistics are a joke and they have been for years. I won’t be surprised if they “magically” find that unemployment drops to 5% by October.
Recovery only begins when Obama’s ejected from the White House.
More cooked "statistics". If there is a "surge" in private sector hiring, why is the unemployment rate holding steady at 8.3%??
If anyone in the Obama administration's lips or keyboard are moving, they're lying!!
Well that’s the unexpected and not discussed surge in layoffs.
They're not "unemployed," they're retired!
/sarc
Even though jobs have been added, the tax revenues have not increased. I haven’t seen the latest tax revenue numbers, but the revenues have been falling every time, which is the easiest way to tell that the job market is not improving at all in any way shape or form.
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