Unemployment

[kandrathe]

Recently, the US 2009 unemployment statistics were revised showing that 800,000 more people than earlier reported were unemployed in 2009 (bringing the total to over 8 million). This is odd, since the mechanism for gathering the rates would tend to over state employment, rather than understate it. Also, the largest deviation and correction in the past has been 80,000 jobs. I can only conclude that either the Bureau of Labor statistics in the US has a very poor methodology, or is intentionally painting a rosier than real scenario. There is also the problem of their statistic being measured by those people seeking unemployment compensation, rather than a true measure of the employable and employed. Our metric ignores the so-called disgruntled job seekers who've given up.

If they were miscalculating by as much as 10% last year, how can we trust what they are posting now?


From "Calculated Risk" Blog;

Britain posts both the employment rate, and the unemployment rate; National Statistics Online