Data points on the economy

[unixronin]

• The "official" unemployment rate among males aged 25-54 is 5.1%.

  However, this does not include those who have given up looking for work, which the Department of Labor calls "discouraged workers" and refers to as the "U-6 level".  Neither does it include people scraping up just a few hours aprt-time; if you work one hour per week, the government considers you employed.

  These so-called “discouraged” workers could include computer programmers who cannot find work because the work is being shipped overseas, people who have no childcare, and a variety of other situations that are standing in the way of employment.  Then there are people who are so-called independent contract workers (“1099 workers”) who are rarely counted, and other groups within the labor force who want work but are not counted for a variety of reason.

  Consolidating all the applicable US Department of Labor statistics yields an actual jobless rate among men aged 25-54 of 13.1% — more than one in eight, the second highest rate since World War 2.

• Meanwhile, consumer prices rose 0.34% in March, equivalent to an annual inflation rate of 4%, but "core inflation" stands at only 2.4% annually (a 0.15% rise in March).

  However, "if the government measured inflation based on pre-1982 methods, it would be running at 11.6 percent right now, or 7.3 percent using pre-1998 calculations."

Comments

[wyrdling.livejournal.com]

mark twain had it right in regards to statistics.
at the very least, statistics designed with an agenda besides illumination in mind. (even then....)

i guess that means i count as unemployed, as i've been living in the land of 1099s for awhile now.

[unixronin.livejournal.com]

I've always understood Twain was quoting Benjamin Disraeli there. It was Twain, though, who observed that "No man's life, liberty, or property is safe, while Congress is in session."

[wyrdling.livejournal.com]

i'll second that. don't think i've heard that one before....