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CloudWatcher

(1,831 posts)
2. long term unemployed vs. recently lost their jobs
Sat Sep 5, 2020, 08:08 PM
Sep 2020

I'm not a compulsive statistics reader, but fyi the unemployment rate used to reflect those recently unemployed and didn't count those that had given up hope.

E.g. from https://www.thebalance.com/long-term-unemployment-what-it-is-causes-and-effects-3305518

Long-term unemployment is when workers are jobless for 27 weeks or more. To be counted as such by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), they must have actively sought employment during the previous four weeks. That means the number of long-term unemployed is probably undercounted. Most people become discouraged and drop out of the labor force after six months. They are not included in the labor force participation rate.

And then there's the under-employed numbers, of those that are working crap jobs instead of something full time with benefits and retirement funding.

Bottom line, I wouldn't trust any of the numbers coming out of this admin.
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