JBeukema
Rookie
- Banned
- #1
moreWilliams recreates an SGS (Shadow Government Statistics) alternative unemployment rate reflecting methodology that includes "long-term discouraged workers" that the Bureau of Labor Statistics in 1994 under the Clinton administration redefined away from those considered "unemployed." The BLS no longer considers as "unemployed" those workers without jobs who had not looked for work in the past year because they felt no jobs were available.
Williams demonstrated that it takes an expert to truly decipher BLS unemployment statistics.
For instance, in a Table A-15, titled "Alternative measures of labor underutilization," the BLS reports what is known as "U6 unemployment."
U6 unemployment includes those marginally attached to the labor force and the "underemployed," such as those who have accepted part-time jobs when they are really looking for full-time employment.
While the BLS was reporting unemployment in February 2011 was only 8.9 percent, the BLS also was reporting U6 unemployment in February 2011 at 16.7 percent.
The only measure BLS reports to the public as the official monthly unemployment rate is the seasonally adjusted U3 number.
Williams calculates his "Official SGS Alternative Unemployment Rate" by adding back in the BLS U6 numbers that include those long-term discouraged workers who have not looked for work in the past year.
Williams insists his Official SGS Alternative Unemployment measure is the most accurate estimate of true unemployment in that a reliable measure of long-term discouraged workers should be included in the statistical analysis.