Unemployment Rate Facts
POSTED BY: JEWELSTAITEFAN
UPDATED: Saturday, September 5, 2026 13:19
VIEWED: 54220
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OP mistakenly deleted.
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I'd tell you that I don't have time to look into it right now, but I'd be lying. I've actually got a lot of free time now. Not as much as when I was completely unemployed, but more than enough. 
I've been working on my side project, but I think I'm going to turn in early and actually flip back to a day schedule on my off days this time. I'm hoping for an opportunity to see my niece since I haven't seen her since Christmas.
If you'd like to look into it a bit yourself, I suggest looking at Underemployment as a starter. It's probably the biggest factor in why the current unemployment rate statistics are a lie.
Quote:
Underemployment (or disguised unemployment) is the under-use of a worker due to a job that does not use the worker's skills, or is part time, or leaves the worker idle. Examples include holding a part-time job despite desiring full-time work, and overqualification, where the employee has education, experience, or skills beyond the requirements of the job
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Underemployment
A lot of this has to do with jobs being shipped overseas, but as has been discussed in here before it's also a matter of automation, or computers otherwise being able to do a lot of work that had to be done by humans before. I know I've bitched about my salary going to pay 5 to 10 Indians with much more education than me before, but the truth is that almost 10 years after I was laid off I'll bet 50% of my old job doesn't even need to be done by a human being anymore.
Probably the second largest reason the unemployment numbers are a lie is because they only count people who are actively handing in reports every week about their unemployment status to draw an unemployment check. You're perfectly free to continue to hand in these reports after you've exhausted your benefits and remain on that statistic, but I don't see why anybody would do that once the free checks stop coming in.
My last unemployment stint was just under 2 1/2 years long. Only 6 months of that time I was considered unemployed. Now that I have a part-time job that number didn't change at all, simply because I already was considered not part of unemployment for that reason. However, had I gotten that part time job immediately after being laid off from my great full time job I would not be considered unemployed (and they don't ever factor underemployment in the statistics that are presented to the public).
This second part is something that Trump used to talk about when he said the unemployment numbers were bullshit before he was president. Funny how he doesn't talk about that anymore though, innit?
Do Right, Be Right. :)
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The Fake figures Obama boasted in 2016 were fake. But now Trump has returned real numbers back to the reports, in line with 2008.
Review the figures and identify what you feel are fake numbers for Trump.
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Your graph is not readable. You need to either link the spreadsheet or readable table you got the information from, or put it in a Google spreadsheet so everyone can read it.
You ignored the two things I told you to look at, so I'm going to ignore your request... at least until you present a readable graph.
Do Right, Be Right. :)
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Quote:This is the same source Trump is using. There is no change between Obama leaving and Trump's first year. For many years, % unemployment has been dropping in a wiggly line and the number of people employed has been rising in a nice smooth line.
Originally posted by JEWELSTAITEFAN:
The Fake figures Obama boasted in 2016 were fake. But now Trump has returned real numbers back to the reports, in line with 2008.
Review the figures and identify what you feel are fake numbers for Trump.
If you want the XLS file, it is here: https://goo.gl/cUv5zQ
Blue Line is Civilian Unemployment Rate. Jun 2009=100
Red Line is All Employees: Total Nonfarm Payrolls, Jun 2009=100
June 2009 is the end of the last recession.
https://fred.stlouisfed.org/graph/?g=iU78
Graphing it with the Y-axis on the right side as % unemployment (rather than 0-100) looks much the same:
https://fred.stlouisfed.org/graph/?g=iU7R
Graphing with the Y-axis on the left as thousands of employed (rather than 0-100) also looks much the same:
https://fred.stlouisfed.org/graph/?g=iU8w
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly
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None of those graphs consider underemployment or people who are still unemployed but have stopped making weekly claims once their benefits ran out.
You won't find any official graphs that show any of this information and paint a real picture of the whole situation.
Therefore, anyone making these stats, citing these stats or touting these stats is lying either wittingly or unwittingly.
Do Right, Be Right. :)
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Quote:I did include your second item.
Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:
None of those graphs consider underemployment or people who are still unemployed but have stopped making weekly claims once their benefits ran out.
You won't find any official graphs that show any of this information and paint a real picture of the whole situation.
Therefore, anyone making these stats, citing these stats or touting these stats is lying either wittingly or unwittingly.
Do Right, Be Right. :)
Are you saying the rows word wrap?
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Quote:The Bureau of Labor Statistics says you are mistaken.
Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:
None of those graphs consider underemployment or people who are still unemployed but have stopped making weekly claims once their benefits ran out.
You won't find any official graphs that show any of this information and paint a real picture of the whole situation.
Therefore, anyone making these stats, citing these stats or touting these stats is lying either wittingly or unwittingly.
They do count you, even if your unemployment insurance benefits have stopped because you have been out-of-work too many weeks. There is a long and complicated explanation of how the number of long term unemployed are counted. No, they don’t call 333,000,000 Americans www.census.gov/popclock/ to ask them if they are working. Instead, they ask only 1,000,000 people, each and every month. And then they use statistics to figure out what the other 332,000,000 Americans are working. www.bls.gov/cps/cps_htgm.pdf
What do the unemployment Insurance (Ul) figures measure?
While the UI claims data provide useful information, they 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. . . .
Because of these and other limitations, statistics on insured unemployment cannot be used as a measure of total unemployment in the United States. Indeed, over the past decade, only about one-third of the total unemployed, on average, received regular UI benefits.
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly
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Quote:Are the Long-term Unemployed counted among the Marginally Attached to the Labor Force, or counted among the Labor Force, or not counted among either?
Originally posted by second:Quote:The Bureau of Labor Statistics says you are mistaken.
Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:
None of those graphs consider underemployment or people who are still unemployed but have stopped making weekly claims once their benefits ran out.
You won't find any official graphs that show any of this information and paint a real picture of the whole situation.
Therefore, anyone making these stats, citing these stats or touting these stats is lying either wittingly or unwittingly.
They do count you, even if your unemployment insurance benefits have stopped because you have been out-of-work too many weeks. There is a long and complicated explanation of how the number of long term unemployed are counted. No, they don’t call 333,000,000 Americans www.census.gov/popclock/ to ask them if they are working. Instead, they ask only 1,000,000 people, each and every month. And then they use statistics to figure out what the other 332,000,000 Americans are working. www.bls.gov/cps/cps_htgm.pdf
What do the unemployment Insurance (Ul) figures measure?
While the UI claims data provide useful information, they 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. . . .
Because of these and other limitations, statistics on insured unemployment cannot be used as a measure of total unemployment in the United States. Indeed, over the past decade, only about one-third of the total unemployed, on average, received regular UI benefits.
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Quote:When the Bureau of Labor Statistics asks, tell them the truth: Do you got a job? Or are you in jail, in the army, in a mental institution (those last 3 don't count as being employed), whatever. "Each month, highly trained and experienced Census Bureau employees contact the 60,000 eligible sample households and ask about the labor force activities (jobholding and job seeking) or non-labor force status of the members of these households. These are live interviews conducted either in person or over the phone." - www.bls.gov/cps/cps_htgm.pdf
Originally posted by JEWELSTAITEFAN:
Are the Long-term Unemployed counted among the Marginally Attached to the Labor Force, or counted among the Labor Force, or not counted among either?
That's how unemployment is calculated -- the Bureau of Labor Statistics asks Americans questions. The process cannot produce an incorrect unemployment rate if Americans tell the truth about working or not.
This is an interesting figure:
www.bls.gov/charts/employment-situation/persons-not-in-the-labor-force
-who-want-a-job.htm
Again, the figure cannot be wrong if Americans tell the truth about wanting a job.
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly
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