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XPost: alt.politics.democrats, alt.politics.usa.republican
Trump Right Again: The Unemployment Rate Does Not Count People Who Have Not Looked For Work
Conclusion
In a December interview with Fox News, Donald Trump criticized the relatively low unemployment rate as deceptive, saying, "take a look at the real jobs report, which are the millions of people that gave up looking for work, and they're not considered in that number that's less than 5 percent."
Trump is correct. The unemployment rate does not count people who have not looked for work...[1]
=====
Fact Check: Are People Who Have Stopped Looking For Work Counted In The Unemployment Rate?
In a Fox News Sunday interview with host Chris Wallace, President-elect Donald Trump criticized the official unemployment rate as failing to provide a complete picture of the workforce. "[Y]ou look at what's going on-and you can look at a jobs report, but take a look at the real jobs report, which are the millions of people that gave up looking for work, and they're not considered in that number that's less than 5 percent."[1]
Is Trump correct that the unemployment rate does not account for millions of people who have given up looking for work?
Yes. The official unemployment rate calculated by the Bureau of Labor Statistics excludes people who have not actively sought a job in the preceding four weeks, as they are no longer considered part of the civilian labor force. Background
Trump's comment to Wallace is not the first time that he has challenged the utility of the unemployment rate. At a post-election rally in Des Moines, Iowa on December 8, he called the unemployment rate "total fiction" (which earned him four Pinocchios from the Washington Post's fact-checker feature).[2]
After winning the New Hampshire primary, he told supporters not to "believe those phony numbers when you hear 4.9 and 5 percent unemployment. The number's probably 28, 29, as high as 35. In fact, I even heard recently 42 percent." (Politifact rated this claim as "Pants on Fire.")[3]
However, Trump is correct in stating that the unemployment rate is a comparatively narrow measure.
THE UNEMPLOYMENT RATE
The U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) publishes six measures of "labor underutilization" each month.[4] In his critiques, Trump is referring to the BLS U-3 unemployment rate. That figure has hovered around 5 percent throughout 2016.[5]
2016 - Unemployment Rate by Month
Jan. Feb. Mar. Apr. May June July Aug. Sep. Oct. Nov.
4.9% 4.9% 5.0% 5.0% 4.7% 4.9% 4.9% 4.9% 5.0% 4.9% 4.6%
This unemployment rate is based on a monthly survey of 60,000 households, and including individuals age 16 and up.[6]
According to the BLS, "People are considered employed if they did any work at all for pay or profit during the survey reference week," including all part- time and temporary work, regular full-time, year-round employment, and if a person has a job which they did not work during the survey week due to factors like illness, parental leave, or a labor dispute.[6]
People are classified as unemployed "if they do not have a job, have actively looked for work in the prior 4 weeks, and are currently available for work."[6]
The total of employed and unemployed people makes up the civilian labor force. The unemployment rate, then, "reflects the number of unemployed people as a percentage of the labor force."[6]
Trump is correct that people who "gave up looking for work" are not counted in this unemployment rate. A person who has not actively looked for work for more than 4 weeks is not designated as either employed or unemployed.
Labor force participation
Americans outside of the labor force are counted in the "labor force participation rate." The rate refers to the percentage of the population that is either working or actively seeking work.[6]
Since the end of the most recent recession in June 2009 through November 2016, the unemployment rate has fallen from 9.5 percent to 4.6 percent.[7][5] The labor force participation rate has fallen, too, though, from 65.7 percent in June 2009 to 62.7 percent in November 2016.[8]
Conclusion
In a December interview with Fox News, Donald Trump criticized the relatively low unemployment rate as deceptive, saying, "take a look at the real jobs report, which are the millions of people that gave up looking for work, and they're not considered in that number that's less than 5 percent."[1]
[1] TRUMP IS CORRECT. The unemployment rate does not count people who have not looked for work in four weeks. These individuals are counted in the labor force participation rate, which at 62.7 percent is near the ten-year low of 62.4 percent.
[2]
https://ballotpedia.org/Fact_check/Are_people_who_have_stopped_looking_for_work _counted_in_the_unemployment_rate#cite_note-2
[3]
https://ballotpedia.org/Fact_check/Are_people_who_have_stopped_looking_for_work _counted_in_the_unemployment_rate#cite_note-3
[4]
https://ballotpedia.org/Fact_check/Are_people_who_have_stopped_looking_for_work _counted_in_the_unemployment_rate#cite_note-4
[5]
https://ballotpedia.org/Fact_check/Are_people_who_have_stopped_looking_for_work _counted_in_the_unemployment_rate#cite_note-unemployment-5
[6]
https://ballotpedia.org/Fact_check/Are_people_who_have_stopped_looking_for_work _counted_in_the_unemployment_rate#cite_note-how-6
[7]
https://ballotpedia.org/Fact_check/Are_people_who_have_stopped_looking_for_work _counted_in_the_unemployment_rate#cite_note-7
[8]
https://ballotpedia.org/Fact_check/Are_people_who_have_stopped_looking_for_work _counted_in_the_unemployment_rate#cite_note-8
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Joe Biden Is A Racist
"Americans can't distinguish "between a South Korean and someone from
Beijing." - Joe Biden
Yup... they all look alike, Joe.
Old-Rich-White-Religious Freak, Joe Biden Bragged About His Ability to Work With Racists
Old-Rich-White-Religious Freak, Joe Biden Brags About a Segregationist Democrat Not Calling Him "Boy" Like He Did Others
Used Racist Term "Roaches" to Describe Black Kids Who Felt His Hairy Legs
Praised Democrat Segregationist Sen. John Stennis(D) as "Man of Character"
"Segregation Is Good for Black People" - Joe Biden
"(The) Democrat Party Needs More People Like Racist Democrat Governor George Wallace." - Joe Biden
Gave Speech About What's "Good for the Negro"
"... if you have a problem figuring out whether you're for me or Trump, then you ain't black..." - Joe Biden
"If my opponent wins, they're going to put y'all back in chains." - Joe Biden
Funny, since Democrats have been KEEPING Blacks "in chains" for 60 years, and PUT them there, in the first place. Lincoln and Frederick Douglas and H.R. Revels, Benjamin S. Turner, Josiah T. Walls, Joseph H. Rainey, Robert C. De Large, Jefferson H. Long, R. Brown Elliot were ALL Republicans
http://www.wordfoundations.com/wp- content/uploads/2016/08/First_Colored_Senator_and_Representatives.jpg
"Unless we do something about this, my children are going to grow up in a jungle." - Joe Biden
Jungle: Slang term for a city or urban area.
"You cannot go to a 7-Eleven or a Dunkin' Donuts unless you have a slight Indian accent. I'm not joking." - Joe Biden
Only people from India can work at 7-11?
"Poor kids are just as bright and just as talented as white kids" - Joe Biden... as opposed to "White Kids"? That would imply all poor kids are Black.
"I do not buy the concept, popular in the '60s, which said, "We have suppressed the black man for 300 years." - Joe Biden
Seems that THAT'S exactly what Democrats have been saying, ever since they found out that they could buy their votes so easily with free shit.
"I mean, you got the first mainstream African American who is articulate and bright and clean." - Joe Biden
What... they're not SUPPOSED to be?
"We (Delawareans) were on the South's side in the Civil War." - Joe Biden
"I mean these Shylocks (Jews) who took advantage of, um, these women and men while overseas." - Joe Biden (Not "racist", per se, but still...)
Message-ID: <
MPG.3fea6c40958c5433d06@news.eternal-september.org>
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