What is the real unemployment rate in America?

If you guessed that unemployment in America is 9.2% you lose.  Not even close!  But I understand why you would think that is the correct number.  That’s because that’s the number touted by the news media.  And where did they get that number?  From the government and where did the government get their numbers from?  Well, you have just arrived at the problem with the numbers; the government. 

So, let’s take a moment, or two, and see if we can figure out just how the numbers in Washington “work.”

To arrive at what some call “the real unemployment rate”, known as the U6 rate, one has to use three different measurements.  First you have the unemployment rate.  Second, you have the number of people working part-time who want full-time work.  And the third category is people who are considered “marginally attached.”  That means they have left the workforce but would like to be employed. 

The number dished out by the government and then regurgitated to the masses (you and me) is the first one; the unemployment rate which is just above 9%.  If you have been paying attention you have figured it out; this isn’t a real number representing the real problem of unemployment in America.  But it is the one everyone is familiar with.  And what does this number represent in the real world? How did the government come up with that number? It is a measurement of people looking for jobs in the last four weeks or about 2.5 million unemployed people!  It doesn’t count the underemployed, about 8.6 million and the “marginally attached” which is about 2.7 million.  If you add all of them into the number then you actually have about 16.2% unemployed!  That figure comes from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (June of 2011). 

The “underemployed” include people working at least one hour a week or part time. That’s correct, someone is working as little as one hour a week they are counted as “underemployed.” These people are not able to get full time jobs. Now, an argument may be made for the government not counting the “underemployed” as they do have a job though not a full time job.  But how do they possibly explain not counting those who have given up looking for a job?  They want jobs but there are none to be had for them! So they aren’t counted in the unemployment figure.

The President, for two years, had a majority of Democrats in the Congress and the Senate.  He, together with the Congress, had the ability to tackle any problem(s) they chose. And what did they decide to focus on? Health Care reform!  We need jobs Mr. President.  Jobs will help us keep our homes.  Jobs will put food on the table.  We need jobs!

If there was a message to be “read” from the mid-term Congressional elections, in which the Republicans swept to power in the House of Representatives, it was simple; Americans didn’t want health care reform, at least not on the massive scale enacted by the President. They wanted jobs! Now, the proverbial chickens are coming home to roost in the upcoming national elections. It’s going to be difficult to get the “real unemployed” the “part time workers” and the “marginally attached”, and their families and friends, to vote for a President that chose to “fix” health care instead of fixing the economy.

The only “positive” thing to come of this ceaseless unemployment in America could be the unemployment of the President. I say it’s time to add him to the “real unemployed. “ What about you?

Hal

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