Statistical Scam
It sounds dreadful. After drifting down consistently since last fall, the unemployment rate has suddenly shot up again, from 9.7 percent in March to 9.9 percent in April. But don’t despair: A rising unemployment rate is actually one of the best signs yet that the economy is bouncing back.
The unemployment rate rose for the right reason. Instead of shedding jobs, employers added 290,000 jobs in April, the strongest showing since 2007. The reason the unemployment rate went up is that a lot more people are suddenly looking for work.
This is absurd. US News spews propaganda to tell us why rising unemployment is actually good. What’s the matter with this picture? As many (most?) know by now the official governent unemployment figures do not count the “disheartened” job seekers: those who gave up looking. They still don’t have jobs and hence are producing nothing and making no income, but they are not officially counted as such.
The real take home from this is to ask why more people aren’t sick of being bamboozled by phony statistics. Unemployment = no job. Period. If the government counted like a normal, common sense person they may unleash truth on the populace which would wake people up to how bad things really are. We wouldn’t want that now would we?
The sad truth is that the economy needs to add >400,000 jobs each month just to stay even with retirements, death and population growth. Better to keep people entertained with bogus numbers though. Heaven knows what they might do with the simple truth….I don’t know maybe make decisions based on reality.
