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Originally Posted by SniperSB23
Yes, I'm an expert on how everyone misuses statistics. I've worked in government the past seven years under both Republican and Democrats and both want to spin the same numbers the same way. I know how silly it is and I know how silly the numbers in the Wall Street Journal were. And if you can find an Obama quote where he said we'd never get above 8% unemployment then I'll laugh my ass off at that. But really I don't think he's that dumb to say that. Anyone with a clue knows the economy may be turning now but there is always an unemployment lag after the recession ends so we will hit 11% before this is all said and done. And for anyone who understands how the unemployment statistics works they will understand that it will actually be a positive thing. That may sound weird but the unemployment rate is the percentage of people seeking a job that cannot get one related to the total labor force. So that means anyone who has given up "or discouraged workers" as they are known, will not count in the unemployment rate. So later this year the economy picks up even though we are at 10.5% unemployment all other signs are positive that we are recovering. So guess what happens? All those discouraged workers suddenly start looking for jobs again, now instead of counting as out of the labor force they count as unemployed. So we wind up with the unemployment rate jumping even though the economy is recovering. It is the way it works and is why I'd be shocked if Obama was on record saying the unemployment rate would never get above 8%.
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At the beginning of January there were 134,300,000 people employed in the US
At the beginning of May there were 132,400,000 people employed in the US
How is this good?
And how exactly do they measure the amount of "discouraged" workers?