Unemployment up to 6.5% (10.1 million) - bureau of Labor Statistics.

[JohnWxy]

THE EMPLOYMENT SITUATION: OCTOBER 2008


Nonfarm payroll employment fell by 240,000 in October, and the unemployment rate
rose from 6.1 to 6.5 percent, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department
of Labor reported today. October's drop in payroll employment followed declines of
127,000 in August and 284,000 in September, as revised. Employment has fallen by
1.2 million in the first 10 months of 2008; over half of the decrease has occurred
in the past 3 months. In October, job losses continued in manufacturing, construc-
tion, and several service-providing industries. Health care and mining continued
to add jobs.

Unemployment (Household Survey Data)

The unemployment rate rose by 0.4 percentage point to 6.5 percent in October,
and the number of unemployed persons increased by 603,000 to 10.1 million. Over
the past 12 months, the number of unemployed persons has increased by 2.8 mil-
lion, and the unemployment rate has risen by 1.7 percentage points. (See
table A-1.)


http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.nr0.htm

[amdezurik]

1. and that is AFTER the books are cooked

...

[snappyturtle]

2. Yes! nt

[lurky]

3. Exactly.

I heard 11-12% "real" unemployment on the radio today. That seems more like it to me.

[pinqy]

4. It depends...

The "11-12%" figure you're talking about includes people who have not looked for work in the past 4 weeks, but have looked sometime in the last 12 months and stated they were able to work during the week of the survey (the marginally attached) and people who are working part time because of slack work/business conditions or they are unable to find full-time work.

The standard definition of unemployed (international standard) is over 16, not in the military, jail/prison, or an institution, did not work during the reference week, and actively looked for work in the previous 4 weeks.

[mrreowwr_kittty]

6. But the "actively looked for work" requirement overlooks people who are discouraged

Some people don't work because they are retired, a student, or a stay-at-home parent. Others want to work but have given up finding anything in their chosen field and may lack the skills required for a similarly paid situation. Also, I'd really like to see an accounting of "under-employment", that is, people who got laid off or outsourced from a high-skill well-paid position and are now working part-time in a low-wage job.

[pinqy]

7. But the numbers are counted

The number of discouraged and others marginally attached to the labor force, and the numbers of those working part-time for economic reasons are all in the news release (tables A-13 and A-5 respectively) Did you bother to read it?

[mrreowwr_kittty]

5. The figure is WAAAAAY understated.

I personally know several unemployed people and not one is collecting unemployment benefits.

I really hope (naively, I know) that the Obama admin. will institute a more truthful accounting of things like unemployment and inflation.

[pinqy]

8. Huh?

What on earth do unemployment benefits have to do with the unemployment rate? The unemployment figures have nothing to do with whether or not anyone collects benefits.