Actual US unemplyment rate is around 10% and climbing.

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http://www.bizjournals.com/sanantonio/s ... ily36.html

The national unemplyment stats say 7.2 and climbing.
this is based on the people who gain unemployment benefits.
"at least" 1/3 as many more do not gain benefits.
so the national unemployment rate is actually closer to 10% or above.

in my area the unemployment rate (based on those getting benefits) is right around 11%.
add in those not getting benefits and its closer to 15% or more and growing.


What is it like in your region?

Unemployment at 4.2% in my area.

Not the US: 8,1 percent in December for my federal state.

The story of cooked books. First they give a number, which is only those collecting. but it is kept low to make things look good. Three months later the numbers are restated, higher, but it is old news.

It never counts the self employed. It never counts the casual workforce, day labor, under the table, works for tips. Illegals are another class.

It does not measure the mom and pop operations that keep the doors open, but are no longer profitable.

During the Great Depression the count was how many are employed out of the potential workforce, 75% had jobs, 25% did not, it seems like that now, and is getting worse.

There's going to be another Great Depression, soon. I just know it.

7.9%

You're only unemployed if you have no job, but are still looking for one. Once you stop, you don't count.

New unemployement claims are the only measure for which the US Government has direct data, all other calculations are estimates. However, the fact that the long-term unemployed and underemployed are not directly counted means that the "official" number is not represenative of what people believe the number means.

The confusion over what the unemployement claim numbers represent says something for the poor state of financial literacy.

That is the "official" rate. Totally discouraged workers no longer seeking employment are not counted.

ruveyn

Of course it's the reported data. I'm not going to make up some other number based on the speculation of the week.



I see no reason they should be counted. The unemployment number represents people seeking work. Including those that aren't makes the number irrelevant. It's used by the government as a measuring stick for how many new jobs would be beneficial to the economy. Creating jobs for those that aren't seeking work (or don't want work) would not help the economy.



Not sure what you mean here. Many corporations are reporting losses for the past quarter - are you suggesting that all the employees at those corporations should be counted as unemployed? If a small business as you describe fires employees, those employees are counted. If said employees still receive paychecks, they are not counted. If "mom and pop" aren't paying themselves because their business is failing, they should shut down - and then they would be unemployed and counted.