The Headlines Ignores Millions Of Unemployed People – Here’s A Better Way To Tell How Many Need A Job
Many economists would agree that the official U.S. unemployment rate is an inadequate measure of actual labor market conditions.
Although this is one of the most cited pieces of data on the economy as a whole, not many people understand how this indicator is calculated and who is and – more importantly – who isn’t included in it.
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As a labor economist, I believe it’s important for more Americans to take a closer look under the hood to get a more accurate view of U.S. unemployment.
What’s the unemployment rate?
Unemployment is usually described in newspaper or television reports as a percentage or a rate. An article might declare, for example, that the U.S. unemployment rate fell from 6.7% in December to 6.3% in January, according to the latest jobs report released Feb....