True US unemplyment now at 22%

About time you people were told how they are cheating and lying all the time .

According to www.shadowstats.com, more than 22% of U.S. workers are now unable to get a regular job — one of the worst unemployment rates in the industrialized world.
In its headline unemployment number — now at 8.5% — the U.S. government conveniently excludes any unemployed worker who has given up looking for work or is forced to accept low-paying, part-time jobs.
Heck, even researchers at the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics admit that 8.5% grossly understates the true unemployment in America. So they make a half-hearted attempt to figure out a broader unemployment rate — now at 15.2%.
But they're STILL sweeping at least half of the dirt under the rug!
How?
They deliberately avoid counting all those who have given up looking for work after a year's time — a huge group of discouraged workers who, in the real world outside the Beltway, still want and need a job.
The result: While Washington and Wall Street take credit for an "improving recovery," the majority of Americans continue to suffer from a Great Recession!
8.5% my bum .

 

Another Topic which Americans are scared rigid of even looking at , let alone getting involved in .

There is clear evidence that unemployment is above 20% now and the worst in the industrial world .
But of course , if it is admitted that Americans are deliberately deluded in this one key area , it comes so much harder to discount the probability of there being other areas ---- for example , that the US orchestrated the Libyan regime change from start to finish and will do exactly the same in Syria , given the chance .
And the idea that AFRICOM has put up to 15000 ground troops into Libya is just beyond the pale .
Sure they are needed for security and pipe line repairs . And indeed , some are, if the Libyan Parliament has called for them .But these guys have been on stand by for months . etc
So , pigs might fly once again .

 

Great post, IMO.

 

Pretty deafening silence from the government worshippers though.

 

This is just the beginning. What those who are not hynotized and with eyes in their heads are able to grasp, is that the seeds of revolution have already been planted. In other words, qualititively changes are already happening. At what point these qualititive changes evolve into real demonstrable quantiative changes (ie mass rioting and social upheaval as the precursor to tangible revolutionary outcomes), is anybody's guess.

But as sure as night follows day, the conditions already exist for it to happen. No socioeconomic class-based system - capitalism included - are immune to their inherent contradictions which must eventually burst forth. Capitalism, as with fuedalism, before it, is at breaking point. The capitalists have, in the working class, created their own gravediggers....Viva the revolution.

 

Yes the economy continues to sink slowly like the Titantica and yet all we here are excuses and upbeat promises

We are told how it is all Bush's fault and Obama inheriited this and it was sitting on his desk with a big bow on it

and I thought Obama said his "stimulus" would fix the unemployment problem

and the liberal media continues to "report" how things are getting better and Obama's economic policies are finally starting to work

I wonder which Marx Obama imitates more - Karl or Groucho?

 

LOL, while real unemployment numbers are indeed understated, guess what, people who have low-paying jobs or part time jobs are E-M-P-L-O-Y-E-D and can't therefore count towards unemployment.

While you are at it why don't you throw in people who think they are underpaid and want to get a raise, this way you can demonstrate the unemployment rate of 100% in the US.

 

so you are saying that sombody woring part time making 200 a week is contributing as much to the economy as someone making 1000 per week?

 

what I mean to say is that the quality of employment has alot to do with how well the economy does...thats just basic common sence!

 

'True US unemplyment now at 22%'


yes yes yes .................


BUT does Kim Kardashian look cute crying or not ?

 

Huh? What does that have to do with anything? I am saying they are both employed and can't count towards the unemployment rate. I am saying it's absurd to include people who want better jobs, higher paying jobs or more hours into the unemployment rate.

True. The quality of employment is reflected in median income and a few other economic indicators. This thread is about unemployment and it seems common sense to exclude people who are employed or not looking.

 

No that is not common sense, if you have an economy where people can only find part time jobs even when they want full time jobs then there is something seriously wrong with it, someone who has given up looking for work because the job market is hopeless is also still unemployed.

Just typical lying from governments really.

 

The people who provided these Stats are internationally known and respected and I gather Weiss Research uses them .
The chance of them being wrong and you being right are remote , imo .
However , I am not an expert in this area but until l proved wrong by an expert , I am happy to stand by the figures .
And whatever the result , Unemployment is " miles higher" than 8.5%

 

Thanks for your generous comment .
Usually I am called a Troll by the Hilly Billies who cannot stand any possibility of their comfy and greedy world view being questioned .
This is from people who tell you how proud they are of their country built on Free Speech and the Democratic Process .
If you even raise the possibility of system dishonesty and lack of transparency , they adopt an immediate lynch mob mentality .
Yes, the same people who took the world into a War in Afghanistan based on lies ( there were no Al Qaeda left there by 2001 ) , and then two years later when they bought the lies of Bush to invade Iraq .
And later it will be shown what truly happened in Yemen and Bahrein , let alone Libya .And I strongly suggest that what went on stinks to high heaven .
The World's largest and most violent ever Terrorist Group-- America -- has got it's stay at home soldiers so well trained , they will slap down any hint of adverse comment regardless of content .
Unfortunately , I am concerned with the possible . And in this world anything is possible . And increasingly , anything that is possible seems to turn into certainty -- hardly scientific , but more and more true .

 

Lying from the government? Do they really lie to us?

What if.......what if elections and polls are riged as well? This notion hit me after I saw Harry Reid, who had about a 9% apporval rating in Nevada before the last election, win the election. I have also heard people say that independent polls on the internet show Ron Paul in the lead, but when you turn on CNN or Fox Romney is leading the pack.

Oh well, I guess that is for another thread. In addition, if its true, do we really want to know the truth?

 

Counting people who are not happy with their jobs (underpaid, not enough hours etc) and people who are for whatever reason not looking actively for a job as unemployed does not strike me as a valid approach. You can count them as poor or whatever but they are either employed or not trying to get employment.

LOL, it's not me, its the BLS and most economists that share my views.

It depends on how you calculate it of course. If you include people who are not happy with their jobs or are not looking or had higher paying jobs in the past or used to work longer hours - the number will be 99%. If on the other hand you include people who have no jobs and are actively seeking employment the number 8.5% will probably be accurate enough.

 

That something might be wrong with the economy is not in dispute, but people with jobs (even those who want better jobs or used to have better jobs or more hours) are not counted towards the unemployment rate because they are in fact employed.

Actually this is not quite accurate either. There is a ton of openings in the US for people with high-tech, computer, financial, medical/nursing and other white-collar skills. 95% of college graduates with computer science degrees found jobs this year with salaries around $60,000 and more. It's unemployed blue-collar workers unwilling or unable to upgrade their skills who suffer and have to accept part-time, low-wage jobs.

I am not saying it's good or right but your statement that the US job market is hopeless is patently false.

 

I think this post deserves to be repeated.

 

you do realize that in 1981 those working part time but looking for full time work were considered still unemployed right? My the propaganda your government puts out...I tell ya

 

the government can get away with it because americans are so brain dead that people believe whatever BS the government dishes out at them

 

My government's propaganda? lol How about International Labour Organization's propaganda?
Unemployment (or joblessness), as defined by the International Labour Organization, occurs when people are without jobs and they have actively sought work within the past four weeks

Ironically the thread was started by a British dude even though Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union, defines unemployed as those persons age 15 to 74 who are not working, have looked for work in the last four weeks, and ready to start work within two weeks, which conform to ILO standards.

But I guess due to the insignificance and irrelevance of the United Kingdom he prefers to bash the US while his own island is following exactly the same standard - ignoring people who are employed (even part-time) or are not actively looking.

If anything the US BLS does provide alternative measures of unemployment U1 through U6: U6: U5 + Part time workers who want to work full time, but cannot due to economic reasons which is more than can be said about Europe. But hey, what's a little anti-American conspiracy between western allies when European (especially British) inferiority complex is concerned.

 

you do realize that if those bogus statistics were used during the great depression then unemployment was about half what was reported back then! There were still some part time jobs from what I read.....things like working a couple of days on a farm to pick stuff and then another couple of days at some factory...but it just wasnt enough to pay the bills...but according to today's labour statistics then they are employed LOL

 

Right or wrong the US seems to be following the international standard established by the International Labor Organization, even if the formula was different 30 or 80 years ago. The rest of the world is using the same methodology.

The main point of the OP seems to be to 'show' that 'stupid' 'gullible' americans are somehow fooled by the government though. The irony of it is that the OP does not even realize that the unemployment rate in his own country is exactly the same (8.4% and unlike american is growing) and his own [European Union] government is using exactly the same formula to calculate it.

It's understandable though, It's quite typical for the European 'little brother' inferiority complex to manifest itself in anti-American conspiracies and attempts to convince themselves that despite all the evidence to the opposite they are smarter and more sophisticated than Americans.

 

a) nobody is saying that other governments are not just as corrupt as the american government.

b) americans sophisticated? LOL a nation that is more fixated on what paris hilton is doing than the "REAL" issues that affect their dat to day lives? yo are joking right?