Government unemployment statistics hide the true unemployment picture

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2008-12-13 10:08

Frank K
Colorado Springs, CO

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The Bureau of Labor Statistics report of December 5, 2008 shows an increase in the unemployment rate to 6.7 pct in November, an increase from the 6.5 pct the previous month. This is equivalent to a loss of 533,000 jobs in November bringing the total unemployed through November to 10.3 million.

However, excluded from the numbers are persons who worked part time for economic reasons. According to the BLS:

"Over the month, the number of persons who worked part time for economic reasons (sometimes referred to as involuntary part-time workers) continued to increase, reaching 7.3 million. The number of such workers rose by 2.8 million over the past 12 months. This category includes persons who would like to work full time but were working part time because their hours had been cut back or because they were unable to find full-time jobs."

In addition, the BLS excludes “about 1.9 million persons (not seasonally adjusted) that were marginally attached to the labor force in November, 584,000 more than 12 months earlier. These individuals wanted and were available for work and had looked for a job sometime in the prior 12 months. They were not counted as unemployed because they had not searched for work in the 4 weeks pre-ceding the survey.”

The number of those no longer looking for work added to those working part time while looking for fulltime work totals about 9.2 million higher. Adding these people to the official unemployed of 10.3 million results in a number of about 19.5 million or an equivalent unemployment rate of 12.6 pct, almost double the official 6.7 pct

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