Question: Do Unemployment numbers count seasonal unemployment?

[Dob Bole]

If they do, ther could be a small spike in unemployment in September, when teachers go back to school. Also, what does DINO stand for?

[ferg]

1. They try to factor seasonal effects out

The number that's reported in the papers is tweaked to try to take care of the seasonal effects. (It's an open question whether that tweaking is honest or dishonest.)

You can go to the blm site and check out the untweaked numbers.

[Abe Linkman]

2. Spikes smikes - wage hikes is just as important, or more so.

I don't think it's particularly enlightening to know about a small spike in employment rates or vice versa. More people working at WalMart isn't very good news, in my opinion.

[sam sarrha]

4. walmart just became the largest employer in the usa, since the auto

companies have layed so many people, 2 million people have lost their jobs for bush.

[sam sarrha]

3. unemployment numbers only count a person once, the first time they..

apply for unemployment insurance...i used to be a union cannery worker. it is skewed to hide the real figures.

[zoidberg]

6. no, No, NO!

Unemployment numbers are in no way influenced by people applying for unemployment insurance. This is perhaps the biggest myth that is out there about unemployment.

"Because unemployment insurance records, which many people think are the source of total unemployment data, relate only to persons who have applied for such benefits, and since it is impractical to actually count every unemployed person each month, the Government conducts a monthly sample survey called the Current Population Survey (CPS) to measure the extent of unemployment in the country. The CPS has been conducted in the United States every month since 1940 when it began as a Work Projects Administration project. It has been expanded and modified several times since then. As explained later, the CPS estimates, beginning in 1994, reflect the results of a major redesign of the survey."
http://www.bls.gov/cps/cps_faq.htm#Ques2

[DieboldMustDie]

5. DINO:

Democrat in Name Only