US unemployment not so bad

[PeterCH]

U.S. unemployment is at a 16-year high, but in a global and historical context, it is well within normal bounds.

http://www.stratfor.com/memberships...0109_u_s_putting_unemployment_figures_context

It's subscription content, so you need to use your email address
to obtain full access.

 

[Alan]

No. It's lies the evil empire is collapsing damit

 

[Syndyre]

I can't access that article but broad unemployment (U6) is at 12.5% which is high by most people's standards.

 

[Other Pineapple Smurf]

My Dad is going back to the states to work there - not because he cannot find work here, but because like SA, the US has a shortage of skilled workers in the booming industries (his in transport).

 

[PeterCH]

I can't access that article but broad unemployment (U6) is at 12.5% which is high by most people's standards.

It asks for an email address and then let's you in...

 

[Syndyre]

It asks for an email address and then let's you in...

I tried that but all it takes me to is an order form asking for credit card details etc.

 

[Xarog]

Actually, using the same methods that the US govt. used pre-1980 to calculate unemployment, it is currently at 17.5%

 

[Alan]

Actually, using the same methods that the US govt. used pre-1980 to calculate unemployment, it is currently at 17.5%

That's nearly as bad as Sweden

 

[sox63]

Actually, using the same methods that the US govt. used pre-1980 to calculate unemployment, it is currently at 17.5%

When you start to think about the numbers involved, that is over 50 million people unemployed! More than our entire population! That is sad.

 

[Syndyre]

Actually, using the same methods that the US govt. used pre-1980 to calculate unemployment, it is currently at 17.5%

What method is that?

 

[genetic]

Street level unemployment in the US seems to be around 17.5% as Xarog stated.

This graph shows comparisons between the government released official rate (6.5%), and the SGS Alternative rate (17.5)%.

"The SGS Alternate Unemployment Rate reflects current unemployment reporting methodology adjusted for SGS-estimated "discouraged workers" defined away during the Clinton Administration added to the existing BLS estimates of level U-6 unemployment."

More info: http://www.shadowstats.com/alternate_data

 

[Syndyre]

Street level unemployment in the US seems to be around 17.5% as Xarog stated.

This graph shows comparisons between the government released official rate (6.5%), and the SGS Alternative rate (17.5)%.

"The SGS Alternate Unemployment Rate reflects current unemployment reporting methodology adjusted for SGS-estimated "discouraged workers" defined away during the Clinton Administration added to the existing BLS estimates of level U-6 unemployment."

More info: http://www.shadowstats.com/alternate_data

This is the definition of U6:

U-6 Total unemployed, plus all marginally attached workers, plus total employed part time for economic reasons, as a percent of the civilian labor force plus all marginally attached workers..

NOTE: Marginally attached workers are persons who currently are neither working nor looking for work but indicate that they want and
are available for a job and have looked for work sometime in the recent past. Discouraged workers, a subset of the marginally attached,
have given a job-market related reason for not looking currently for a job. Persons employed part time for economic reasons are those
who want and are available for full-time work but have had to settle for a part-time schedule. For more information, see "BLS
introduces new range of alternative unemployment measures," in the October 1995 issue of the Monthly Labor Review. Updated population
controls are introduced annually with the release of January data. Seasonally adjusted household data have been revised to reflect
updated seasonal adjustment factors.

http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.t12.htm

So what does the 'shadow' estimate include that U6 doesn't?