The Oct. 17 headline “Jobless claims fall to 14-year low” is misleading by citing what the government likes to call “total unemployment” rate, reported as the U-3 number. It’s now at 5.9 percent. But the U-3 represents only those still collecting unemployment payments.
The more accurate number reflecting the condition of the country is the U-6 report, which includes those who work part time but who can’t find full-time employment, plus those who are no longer collecting unemployment benefits but have looked unsuccessfully for full-time employment within the last 12 months. The government has these numbers, but they don’t publicize them. That number is now at 11.8 percent; in 2000 it was 7 percent, in 2008 it was 11 percent. We have yet to reach prerecession numbers.
This number may be made worse by Obamacare, which discourages businesses, especially small businesses, from hiring more full-time employees if their workforce would cross the line that transfers health costs to the employer.
Only to make my point, the U-3 number could be made to look even better if we merely reduced the number of months job-seekers could draw unemployment benefits. But that wouldn’t improve the situation; it would just make us all feel better, all of us except those who lose their unemployment benefits.
