What are the REAL unemployment figures?

[cbprice797]

In 1994 the Bureau of Labor Statistics changed the way the rate was figured. It changed the way part time emplotees were counted, as well as what age people were counted. This led to a dramatic DROP in the unemployment rate.

When you here the unemployment rate mentioned now and you are 35 or older you grew up with the old system and should add between 2 and 5 percent. That is what various economists are saying about the 8% figure should really be reported as between 10 and 13%.

[Skyowl's Wife]

They also don't count the people whose unemployment has run out.

[herbalpagan]

I also think they don't count newly released military who aren't working yet.
They are tricky people, that government! I remember when unemployment was in double digits and how worried it made people.

[cbprice797]

Yea that was one reason they changed the way it was counted. They wanted to make the numbers seem better than they were. You can go to the Bereau of Labor Statistics and find the way the govenment calculates it.