unemployment is at 4.5 %

graybeard · #11 (**permalink**) 01-11-2007, 04:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gixaholic

wow........................... So you are saying that the war is good because it gives unemployed folks work?

I believe YOU said that...nice try though.

cat's meow · #12 (**permalink**) 01-11-2007, 04:14 PM

Notes about the figures...

Quote:

The accuracy of unemployment statistics

The unemployment rate may be different from the impact of the economy on people. First, the unemployment figures indicate how many are not working for pay but seeking employment for pay. It is only indirectly connected with the number of people who are actually not working at all or working without pay. Second, in the United States those who work as little as one hour a week for payment are considered employed (15 hours in Germany until 03/2005), even if they wish to work more. Therefore, critics believe that current methods of measuring unemployment are inaccurate in terms of the impact of unemployment on people as these methods do not take into account:

The 1.5% of the available working population incarcerated in U.S. prisons...
Those who have lost their jobs and have become discouraged over time from actively looking for work.
Those who are self-employed or wish to become self-employed, such as tradesmen or building contractors or IT consultants.
Those who have retired before the official retirement age but would still like to work.
Those on disability pensions who, while not possessing full health, still wish to work in occupations suitable for their medical conditions.
Those who work for payment for as little as one hour per week but would like to work full-time. These people are "involuntary part-time" workers.
Those who are underemployed, e.g., a computer programmer who is working in a retail store until he can find a permanent job.

On the other hand, the measures of employment and unemployment may be "too high." In some countries, the availability of unemployment benefits can inflate statistics since they give an incentive to register as unemployed. Homemakers and other people who do not really seek work may choose to declare themselves unemployed so as to get benefits; people with undeclared paid occupations may try to get unemployment benefits in addition to the money they earn from their work. Conversely, the absence of any tangible benefit for registering as unemployed discourages people from registering.

However, in countries such as the United States, Canada, Mexico, Australia, Japan and the European Union, unemployment is measured using a sample survey (akin to a Gallup poll). According to the BLS, a number of Eastern European nations have instituted labor force surveys as well. The sample survey has its own problems because the total number of workers in the economy is estimated based on a sample rather than a census. So many economists look to the survey of employers (in U.S.) to get a better estimate of the number of jobs created or destroyed.

Due to these deficiencies, many labor market economists prefer to look at a range of economic statistics such as:

Labor market participation rate (the percentage of people aged between 15 and 64 who are currently employed or searching for employment)
The total number of full-time jobs in an economy
The number of people seeking work as a raw number and not a percentage
The total number of person-hours worked in a month compared to the total number of person-hours people would like to work

gixaholic · #13 (**permalink**) 01-11-2007, 04:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by graybeard

I believe YOU said that...nice try though.

no you said it in your post....... a new low for you gray.. And you say you where a soldier. For who...... communist russia?

gixaholic · #14 (**permalink**) 01-11-2007, 04:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cat's meow

Notes about the figures...

It still doesn't matter. As a historical number over the years the way the calculate the number has been the same......... so the numbers are acurate.

oh i wonder where all these unemployed workers are................ oh thats right they are on the corner in the mornings with foreign passports

graybeard · #15 (**permalink**) 01-11-2007, 04:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gixaholic

no you said it in your post....... a new low for you gray.. And you say you where a soldier. For who...... communist russia?

Gix:...victory dance... yahoo... I won, I won...

gdfather02 · #16 (**permalink**) 01-11-2007, 07:53 PM

Amazing....

I noticed this sometime ago. When Clinton was the president, employment figures such as this were considered an all time low....

Figures reported such as this under Bush, they are considered high.

Let's have a little common sense here, either the figures are good or they are bad, but they can't be both.

rob · #17 (**permalink**) 01-11-2007, 08:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gdfather02

Amazing....

I noticed this sometime ago. When Clinton was the president, employment figures such as this were considered an all time low....

Figures reported such as this under Bush, they are considered high.

Let's have a little common sense here, either the figures are good or they are bad, but they can't be both.

gdf, it depends on who you are going to support. The numbers as you say either tell the story or they don't. But if the numbers are a reflection of Bush then they are wrong.

nathanbforrest45 · #18 (**permalink**) 01-12-2007, 11:38 AM

I would hate to be a liberal. They live such sad, fear filled, depressing lives. Nothing is ever good, nothing is ever right. There is never any hope or progress or right, only wrong. They live in constant fear and paranoia of being spied on, or dying from acid rain or ozone depletion drowing as a result of the polar ice caps melting. They are terrified their children will impale themselves on a piece of playground equipment or their cars tires will explode pitching them down an embackment only to be discovered by a bunch of REPUBLICANS who will feast on thier bones. They have such fragile personalities that the mere mention of God will send them into spasms of horror. Their idea of a really funny joke is "Rush Limbaugh is a big fat idiot" but go into terminal shock if a conservative even thinks that being overweight is the result of the individual

Liberals have no sense of humor, no sense of responsibility, no sense of proportion. They are just a mass of fear and self loathing who's only pleasure comes from causing pain to millions through their inept and insane economic and social policies.

No wonder the tranquilizer industry is such a growth industry

Dom1 · #19 (**permalink**) 01-12-2007, 11:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gdfather02

Amazing....

I noticed this sometime ago. When Clinton was the president, employment figures such as this were considered an all time low....

Figures reported such as this under Bush, they are considered high.

Let's have a little common sense here, either the figures are good or they are bad, but they can't be both.

Exactly right. I don't think any more can really be added to this.

RASTAMAN · #20 (**permalink**) 01-13-2007, 03:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gixaholic

It still doesn't matter. As a historical number over the years the way the calculate the number has been the same......... so the numbers are acurate.

oh i wonder where all these unemployed workers are................ oh thats right they are on the corner in the mornings with foreign passports

Anyone can cook the numbers to make it appear how you want them too. Were the numbers you gave taken into consideration whether good paying white collar jobs were replaced with low paying service oriented jobs. How many previous workers who had one job outsourced now work 2 or 2.5 jobs just to make ends meet.

Sounds mis-leading at best, Catsmeow made good points as well.