US jobless epidemic masked by govt statistical shenanigans

The only 'shenanigans' with masking joblessness is by the clueless saying they understand numbers and the labor market.
 
“But what kind of a society are we going to have if it consists of highly paid people doing high-value-added work—and masses of unemployed?,” he asked.

Third world.


The American dream is based on the idea that if you work hard, you and your children can do better. For decades, US blue-collar workers could save money, buy homes, put their kids through college, and have decent retirements.

He forgot the part where those blue collar workers pay federal, state and local taxes, buy the stuff that the "smart workers" and their machines make, and feel connected and loyal to the society that they live in, but I think he's getting the point. I hope some of you social darwins are finally getting it, too.

But frankly, judging on the level and quality of thinking many of you FREE MARKET RANDIAN dipshits have displayed in every case requiring thinking, I rather doubt it.

Now, manufacturing is under siege, security is non-existent, and many blue-collar jobs are dead ends rather than stepping stones.

Yup.


Creative destruction is the engine of capitalism, and it has benefited us probably more than any other nation. But who could have imagined the shoe would now be on the other foot?

Me. Me and thousands of other social scientists, thinkers and futurists. All macro-economists with a clue. Pretty much half of those factory workers that many of you imagine are so stupid.

In fact, almost anybody who gave this issue like about 5 minutes thought, ought to have already gotten it.


Everybody EXCEPT our leaders who are creaming in their little lord FountLeRoy pants congratulating themselves for being well connected and therefore above the fray.
 
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Standard idiocy and distortions. They're using govt numbers and saying the govt is "hiding" the truth. How the hell can you say the govt is hiding the "real" numbers when you're quoting the govt to get those numbers?

Of course part time workers shouldn't be counted as unemployed...they're employed. Those who are "part time for economic reasons," meaning they usually work full time but have had their hours cut to part time, or could not find a full time job, are certainly tracked and published every month. They just don't belong in the UNemployment rate whose purpose is to measure people WITHOUT jobs.

Blatant lie in the video claiming that people out of work more than 6 months aren't counted....of course they are...there's never been an upper limit on time unemployed.

And another blatant lie that the govt "keeps changing the defintion" for political purposes is ridiculous. The definition of Unemployed changed in 1967 based on 1962 recommendations that the definition was too subjective. In 1994, collection and processing was computerized and improved and there was one minor change in the definition of unemployed: people who had been hired but hadn't started work yet would only be classified as unemployed if they had actively looked for work in the past 4 weeks. Otherwise they are "not in the labor force" until they actually start work.

One major and one minor change in 63 years is hardly constantly changing.


Now, "given up hope" is a little trickier. There is legitimate argument about including people who say they are willing and able to work and who have looked in the past year but not past month, but the reason they haven't been included since 1967 is that it's just too subjective. Someone claiming they would work but the economy is too bad or they're too black or too white or too young or too old etc is perception, not necessarily reality. It's too subjective. The purpose of the UE rate is to evaluate the Labor Market..not the opinions of people not in the labor market. They are also tracked and alternative rates including them are published monthly. But they don't belong in the main figure.
 
Its all a shell game anyway.

Temporary workers are a class that obscures the real numbers. I know some people who work through Manpower, Command Labor and other temporary job agencies and most of them work on a job for anywhere from a day to several weeks and then just get let go and don't work for days or weeks until called again. They are not unemployed but they are not working. The companies like them because they pay no unemployment insurance, no health insurance, pay low wage, and can let them go on a minutes notice. Many times they dangle the prospect of full employment but it never materializes. The worker gets stuck in a cycle of work and no work and must resort to government assistance to survive and cannot afford health insurance but because the temp agencies offer insurance (that only cover when employed) they cannot get government assisted insurance.

Is this the future? The number of temp agencies are rising and the number of temporary workers are rising.
 
Went to a party recently where a recent college grad was trying to convince me (and himself) that he was satisfied making $85 a day as a substitute teacher. His half sister, tens years his senior, chimed in that she too was happy to have that part time job, too.

Of course both of them are living home facing college debts that neither of them can pay off.

Are either of them REALLY employed?

Hell no!

THIS is what our kids are facing in large part, folks.

We're going to lose this generation if this continues for very long.

They'll miss that window of opportunity to get their careers on track.

And assuming things get better in a decade or so?

They will never climb on board that career track because the emplooyers will be hiring NEW college grades rather than ones who will be then no longer young enough to be considered for those entry level posts.

This is what happens to whole generations when the economies fail, folks.

They never really recover.
 
Its all a shell game anyway.

Temporary workers are a class that obscures the real numbers. I know some people who work through Manpower, Command Labor and other temporary job agencies and most of them work on a job for anywhere from a day to several weeks and then just get let go and don't work for days or weeks until called again. They are not unemployed but they are not working.

For those periods where they're not working, they are classified as unemployed.
 
Just the typical status battles all packs/herds have except in our case the losers aren't killed and/or raped. They aren't even driven out of the pack to find their own way or die, they just slip down the status ladder and have fewer toys, this is bad?
 

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