The Unemployment Myth (we've been fed more lies)

[kskiska]

The government's announcement on Tuesday that the economy grew even faster than expected makes the current "jobless recovery" even more puzzling. To give some perspective, unemployment normally falls significantly in such economic boom times. The last time growth was this good, in 1983, unemployment fell 2.5 percentage points and another full percentage point the next year. That's what happens in a typical recovery. So why not this time? Because we have more to recover from than we've been told.

The reality is that we didn't have a mild recession. Jobs-wise, we had a deep one.

The government reported that annual unemployment during this recession peaked at only around 6 percent, compared with more than 7 percent in 1992 and more than 9 percent in 1982. But the unemployment rate has been low only because government programs, especially Social Security disability, have effectively been buying people off the unemployment rolls and reclassifying them as "not in the labor force."

In other words, the government has cooked the books. It has been a more subtle manipulation than the one during the Reagan administration, when people serving in the military were reclassified from "not in the labor force" to "employed" in order to reduce the unemployment rate. Nonetheless, the impact has been the same.

more…
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/11/30/opinion/30GOOL.html?ex=1070773200&en=6c7247ad665f0e62&ei=5062&partner=GOOGLE

[pinkpops]

1. The best way to get a feel for the job situation

is to go look for one.

[mhr]

2. You Got That Right - Unemployed 39 Months Here - No Job In Sight

eom

[Buckminster Fush]

3. SInce May 1st of 2001 here...

Been a long time since I made any decent money. Between my wife and I we are working 5 jobs (Me: Self-Employed web designer & Part Time Waiter: The Wife- Lunch Mom, Paper Route, Coat Check Girl at Restaurant) right now and STILL don't have enough money at the end of the month to pay our bills. Fuck these bullshit unemployment numbers they mean squat. Whenever someone cashes that last unemployment check they fall off the radar as far as being counted in the unemployment numbers. Those number have been being cooked since March of 2001.

[Skittles]

4. here's another good article about the productivity myth

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/11/30/opinion/30ROAC.html

[Dogmudgeon]

5. I feel lucky now

I've been unemployed for 25 months. (You guessed correctly, I'm a computer programmer.) The excuse given was 9-11, but the job went to India as soon as the company (Merck) sloughed off its Medco scam.

Team Bush has cooked the books since before they got into power. I was a contract worker, and even though I got unemployment, I believe that I was never a part of the "official" Unemployment stats all the papers ran to prove what a Wise and Courageous Leader Bush is.

Christmas is coming. Last year, I scraped together $200 for presents because I got a week of work in early December. This year -- bupkes.

Oh, but I'm just experiencing the Consequences of my failure to accept Personal Responsibility. Uh-huh.

Pass me that tube of lube, will ya? And kiss me first. I like being kissed before I get sodomized.

--bkl
Issues? You bet.
Bush? It sure looks like it.
Republicans? Our intelligence suggests that would be an accurate assessment of the situation at this juncture.
(D. Rumsfeld)