By definition, if you're not looking for work, you are not unemployed. Why do you think people not trying to work should be classified the same as those trying?
They aren't looking because there aren't enough jobs capable of supporting families.
And your evidence of this is what? Let's look at the data:
A-38. Persons not in the labor force by desire and availability for work, age, and sex
These are the people not working and not looking for work: 95 million. 89,965,000 (94.2%) of them do not want to work. So they probably did not stop looking because there were not enough jobs.
So we have 5,524,000 people who say they want a job but aren't looking. 2,993,000 did not one single thing to find work in the last year. I would strongly question their commitment to work, then. My guess is that many are teenagers or stay home spouses who theoretically would want a job, but have no real reason to look for one.
Now we have 2,532,000 people who want a job, have looked for work in the last year, but are not considered unemployed because they didn't look in the last 4 weeks. Wait....599,000 say they couldn't have started a job in November if they had been offered one on a silver plate. So clearly your claim fails here too.
Down to 1,932,000 willing and able to work but quit looking. Why?
204,000 cite family reasons.
228,000 say they quit looking to go to school or attend training.
176,000 say they became sick or injured and couldn't look.
733,000 stopped looking for other personal reasons such as child-care and transportation problems but NOT because there were no jobs, but because they couldn't work or had personal responsibilities that took precedence.
And now we're down to 591,000 who quit looking because they believed there was "no work available, could not find work, lacks schooling or training, employer thinks too young or old, and other types of discrimination." Now that's broader than your claim.
But even so....let's say someone did quit looking because (they believed) there were not enough jobs capable of supporting families. Let's say this person quit looking back in March. Let's even say their belief was true. Is it still true in November? How would they know?
By your argument, if EVERYONE in the United States suddenly quit their jobs and did not look for any more jobs beginning tomorrow Obama would / could TECHNICALLY begin touting a legacy of reducing the Unemployment rate to 0% (ZERO PERCENT).
The unemployment rate measures the amount of available labor not being used. If there are zero people available for work, then there is no available labor and no one could be hired. So would it be wrong to say the unemployment rate was zero?
Actually, let's do a subgroup. the unemployment rate for children age 0-10 in the U.S. is zero. There are some children working..in agriculture, family businesses, and in the entertainment field, but so few that for all intents and purposes the rate is zero.