The June jobs report issued by the Labor Department noted that total employment was down by 125,000 jobs for the month and that the 83,000-worker growth in the private sector was much smaller than expected. Despite the drop in employment, the unemployment rate dropped as well, to 9.5 percent.



That illogical statistical anomaly is attributed to the Labor Department’s current means of recordkeeping, which discounts so-called discouraged workers. A discouraged worker is someone who has given up looking for work, at least for the time being, because of a lack of prospects. Despite those workers being willing and able to work, government economists do not account for them in the general unemployment statistic, making the dangerous assumption that they have dropped out of the workforce entirely. If they were taken into consideration they would add 1.2 million to the ranks of the unemployed.



The generally-accepted unemployment rate also excludes another group of what the Labor Department considers marginally-attached to the workforce. Currently, there are another 1.4 million able-bodied and un-retired Americans who had worked at one time yet have not looked for work for a variety of reasons that, according to the Labor Department, supposedly include scholastic and family responsibilities. Basically, the government considers them disinterested in the workforce, though common sense shows otherwise.


Accounting for both sets of marginally attached workers there are 2.6 million people who are left out of economic concern. Were their numbers to be added to the general population of job seekers, as they should, total unemployment would rise to 17.2 million, pushing the rate to a staggering 11 percent.

The undercalculation does not end there. A good many non-government economists and those who take an active role in the analysis of private sector trends (financiers, entrepreneurs, business managers, and the like) believe that those who are underemployed should be accounted for. An underemployed individual is someone who, due to economic conditions, is working part-time at was once a full-time job or, in some cases, is working at a job that’s a considerable step down in terms of income and/or responsibilities than what was once had as a means to hold him or her over until a better job can be found. There were 8.6 million Americans who fit this bill in June.


Add the underemployed to the unemployed and the total workforce available or active that is not meeting its full potential is 25.8 million. The resultant underemployment/unemployment rate is 15.6 percent.


That number, although still likely underreported due to the Labor Department’s suspect methods of data collection, is closer to what businesses and families are feeling as they try to make ends meet. It’s painful having 9.5 percent of the workforce unable to actively participate in the marketplace through the production and delivery of goods and services, respectively, the exchange of wages and the application of those wages to the economy. But, it has seemed throughout the entire recession that the job rolls were even worse off than what was advertised. It has been, based upon the extended analysis of what should constitute labor statistics. Having nearly 26 million Americans (and their families) either possessing very little discretionary income or none at all is a real downer on the further development of the private sector and, as some would argue, the public sector as well through lesser tax revenues.


The federal government knows that the job market’s health is more hazardous than it lets on. Yet, it openly manipulates the data in its message to the masses to paint a prettier picture. This deliberate act is entirely political in nature, a means of saving face for, one, the unconstitutionally oversized and unaccountable executive branch and its myriad agencies and departments that infringe on the free markets and, two, the elected officials who choose to inappropriately meddle in economic affairs through the creation and application of legislation that inhibits capitalism. They know full well that everything they do constricts employment growth more than any private-sector issue ever could. They don’t want it known that recent gimmicks in federal and global governance (like altruistic real estate financing, Medicare expansion, unconstitutional wars, bailouts, financial reform, the green movement and Obamacare, to name a few) have created and will maintain a double-digit unemployment rate.


By making unemployment appear lower than it is — and even decreasing its reported month-to-month value despite reality — the powers-that-be ensure that the media deliver a message that keeps a majority of Americans on their side and clamoring for more government intervention by making them believe that all previous regulations and stimuli have been meaningful and successful.


But, anyone who has been looking for gainful employment, or any business that is trying to reclaim the good old days of only four years ago, knows better. They can see through the lies and understand too well that unemployment is underreported. Hopefully, it’s their truthful tales of struggle and economic misfortune (not those of Congress or the Obama Administration which cite the contrary) that resonate at the polls come November, sending the message that our economy can be reenergized only through less federal intervention and, subsequently, a more active and robust private sector.


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Wingnut said:

... Hi! Keep in mind that the government ALLOWS the pyramid scheme called capitalism... to exist. It prints the coupons, legalizes ownership and titles, allows monetary discrimination, allows capitalism's widespread "pay up or else" felony extortion, and allows "join the free marketeers OR STARVE" forced-joining of a giant competer's church on the USA 18 year olds. The government that you so easily bash... allows you capitalists to continue your servitude-infested, inequality-infested felony pyramid scheme. Not for long, though. Y better rat-race on the top-heavy pyramid scheme while you still can, because just like the disgusting bottom-child-exploiting childhood pyramids done in playgrounds, capitalism's pyramid is coming down. I'll personally see to it. Yay government intervention. Eventually, capitalism will be busted for its disgusting ways... and I'm going to personally see to THAT, too. Larry "Wingnut" Wendlandt MaStars - Mothers Against Stuff That Ain't Right (anti-capitalism-ists) Bessemer MI USA

July 06, 2010

xEODGuy said:

Wow... I think "Wingnut" forgot to take his meds. His delusions of grandure and general paranoia smack of bipolar. Wingy, I'll bet you're a real hoot at parties!

July 07, 2010

Wingnut said:

Priorities Hi, thx for the personal bash, xeod. I'm not concerned with enjoyments such as parties IN THE LEAST BIT. According to W.H.O. stats, about 20000 kids under age 5... die per day worldwide... from lack of basic survival goods. These kids can't even get the simple enjoyment of being fed and having clean drinking water. We ALL know this is going on. Giving money won't help. Taking the price tags off-of survival goods and getting a more military/USA-library mentality about survival supplies (using free-ly handed-out requisition forms instead of money)... is the answer. Competition, beit person vs person, business vs business, buyer vs seller, nation vs nation, cult vs cult... will have to go. Competition is NOT healthy and never was. Only cooperation is healthy. You see the pyramid scheme symbol on the back of the USA dollar? Sure ya do. If you cared about that symbol whatsoever, you;d already know it was Columbian Freemason/Illuminati. And WHERE is the USA gov located? District of Columbia? (Not in the USA proper). How much more blatant can ya get? If you're using "federal reserve note" AmWay (America Way) coupons, or using the NOT-USED-BY-EVEN-ONE-OTHER-CREATURE-ON-THE-PLANET titles of ownership, you're bought into a giant con/sham competer's church that ate a nation... called capitalism. Own up. Maybe you might want to keep an eye on starving children a bit more than you worry about parties? Just a thought. The creators of the planet... are watching you. Best regards... even in the face of being bashed unfoundedly... Wingy

July 07, 2010

Kenneth Balliet said:

It takes guts.. It takes a lot of guts to tell it like it is. This is one of few stories I see that starts to explain the whole picture of unemployment. I am an EMT in Houston, TX and I have had trouble finding a job since 01/2009. I report my logs to TWC, and do not collect a check unless I have looked for a job. So I am 26 yrs old, 5+yrs experience, able-bodies, can save a life, but cannot find a job? What is the problem?? Mind the healthcare system falling out... So if you count the retirees, unemployed, disabled, incarcerated, and other social dependents- How many percent of American's are actually working? The REAL numbers (not the Bureau of Labor Statistics, look up for goodness sakes) would be shocking, eh?

July 17, 2010