US Unemployment Rate is Bogus

What Is the REAL National U.S. Unemployment Rate – Why the Numbers Can Be Misleading By Kalen Smith

The unemployment rate is a variable that economists routinely use to measure the health of the economy.

However, some people think the federal unemployment rate doesn’t accurately reflect reality. In fact, the real rate of unemployment may actually be much higher than what’s reported.

The state and federal governments calculate unemployment differently. States often measure unemployment by the number of people receiving unemployment benefits. But that, of course, can be misleading since unemployment benefits expire, leaving the unemployed without a way to be measured.

The federal U.S. government, which releases the ubiquitous “unemployment rate” our country focuses on, uses a calculation to measure how many people are unemployed, though this measurement is also flawed.

How Is the Unemployment Rate Calculated?

Surveyors from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) visit 60,000 households every month and ask a number of questions to determine someone’s employment status. If someone works full-time, part-time, or is self-employed, they are considered employed. If someone does not have a job of any kind, but has been looking for one for the past four weeks, they are considered unemployed. If someone does not have a job and isn’t looking for one, they are considered outside of the labor force.

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