--- In [email protected], Bhairitu <noozguru@...> wrote: > > On 01/25/2011 01:51 PM, authfriend wrote: > > --- In [email protected], Bhairitu<noozguru@> wrote: > > <snip> > >> I read a report yesterday that only 47% of working age US > >> workers have full time jobs! > > > > Somebody's playing with the statistics. Do you have a cite > > of the report? > > > > They're likely counting folks who shouldn't be counted, such > > as college students, those who've taken early retirement, > > those who are independently wealthy, disabled people, etc. > > > > Of those who *want* to work, including those who have dropped > > off the rolls because they're discouraged, the figure is > > under 20% unemployed or underemployed. > > Didya do a search?
Where do you think I got the under 20% figure? > Anyway here is the blog that reported it based on the January > 7th employment report. Remember "full time jobs" are the > operative words. There are a lot of people out there making > ends meet by working two or three part time jobs. True. I'd call them fully employed if they're making as much as they would at a full-time job. Many people can't get enough part-time work to amount to a full-time income. > http://theautomaticearth.blogspot.com/2011/01/january-23-2011-only-47-of-working-age.html > > They include the report link so you can play with the numbers > yourself to see if your mileage varies. My mileage varies. In the first place, he lists 6.1% unemployed as the official figure when it's actually around 9.4%. In the second place, if you add up the percentages for employed, unemployed, and part-time employed for economic or noneconomic reasons, you get 75.7%; if you add his "not in the labor force" figure, 35.7%, you end up with over 111%. So something's screwy just with his basic numbers. Plus which, the "not in the labor force" category includes many of the groups I listed above who aren't in the market for a job, who wouldn't be working even if the economy was roaring and millions of jobs were going begging. So they're just not relevant. We need to have a breakdown of that category into those who would like a job but have given up hunting (tentatively included in my 20% figure above) and those who aren't in the market for a job. We also need to know where the 3.3% he somehow left out of the unemployment percentage went; and we need to understand why his total percentage adds up to 111%. > I always think the guvmint cooks the numbers to make > things look better than they really are. I'm sure it does. But this guy is cooking them to make them look worse. > Daily I hear a commercial with some gleeful announcer > saying "now that the recovery is underway" and wonder > what medical marijuana dispensary these people are > getting their smokes from. I agree with you there.
