The way unemployment statistics were compiled changed 20+ times under Thatcher, and I wouldn't be surprised if he followed the US trend, like she did in most other things. Unemployed married/partnered women do not appear in UK registers. Youth under 18, men over 60 and anyone who for some reason do not qualify for benefit is missing from he statistics. The "new" jobs are low paid, part-time, temporary and shoert contracts, without the previous holiday etc. benefits. I think the US underclass, homeless people etc. " the 3rd world in the 1st world", is totally excluded from the unemployment statistics in the US, too. The so cold anglosaxon way of "less government" is as much of a failure as the so called "nanny state". Eva > > Official Unemployment Rates > > > > SPAIN 18.6% > > FRANCE 11.9% > > ITALY 12.3% > > GERMANY 9.5% > > CANADA 8.3 % > > NEW ZEALAND 7.2% > > AUSTRALIA 8.1% > > OECD AVERAGE 7.0% > > BRITAIN 6.3% > > UNITED STATES 4.6% > > JAPAN 4.3 % > > Aren't these numbers a bit misleading, because the way they're calculated > differs among countries (even within the EU) ? (E.g. considering the various > categories of de-facto unemployed people who fall out of the statistics for > various reasons.) Also, comparing the unemployment rates of younger people > can be more telling (e.g. Spain: ~40% IIRC). It would give an interesting > on-topic FW thread to analyze the (politically-motivated) biases/differences > and try to calculate "real"/commensurable numbers. > > Greetings, > Chris > > > [EMAIL PROTECTED]
