Why Is the Real Jobless Number So Elusive?
The U.S. economy is going through a reboot of historic proportions: banks are closing, major retail brands are disappearing, a loss of ad dollars is exacerbating the death spiral of newspapers – and the human toll in all of this is unquestionably high. But of all the gauges of economic turmoil, the one that tells us the most isn’t readily available. We’ve got housing stats, PPI and stock market swings, but those are a science, the stuff of data collection, simple math and spreadsheets. What we need to assess the impact of this recession on real people is an accurate survey of the jobless rate, but a little bit of analysis reveals this is one stat that’s closer to an art. The Labor Department tabulates six different unemployment figures each month, ranked U1 to U6. Their midpoint, U3, is the standard figure released to the press and reported on to anxious readers before they head to work (or don’t). The U3 indicator measures the number of jobless Americans as a percent of the labor forc
