Would You Believe Unemployment at 16.4 Percent?

Today's theme obviously centers around economics.

(I don't exactly know how these themes develop. But they do.)

And since we are doing "economics" today, how about another fun look at last Friday's unemployment report, against courtesy of Donald Marron (see previous post).

Marron reported Friday that while the "official" unemployment rate is 9.4 percent -- these are the people who have recently lost jobs and are actively seeking new ones -- the official "expanded" unemployment picture is much grimmer.

The broadest of these, known as U-6, adds two groups to the regular measure: those who are marginally attached to the labor force (people who are willing to work and have worked in the past, but aren’t actively looking; this includes discouraged workers) and those who are working part-time even though they want to work full-time.

In the old days, this category would have been included in the unemployment report. When you add the two groups together, you realize why they are not lumped together now:


Heaven forbid we tell the America people that we have an unemployment rate of 16.4 percent.

Who knows what those stupid, Bible-toting, gun-thumpin' jerks might do!