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September 14, 2016

The truth is the unemployment rate is a political number, not an economic one.

There is no policy need for guesswork numbers issued monthly when an accurate account of wages, salaries, unearned income and employment is available quarterly.
Since estimated taxes are due around mid-month in January, April, June and September, the IRS could collate the data by the end of the month. There is no guesswork in these numbers; the data includes every employee, employer, self-employed person, gig economy worker, retiree getting a pension, etc. in the economy. -Charles Hugh Smith: What's the Real Unemployment Rate? That's the Wrong Question

Posted by gerardvanderleun at September 14, 2016 7:59 AM. This is an entry on the sideblog of American Digest: Check it out.

Your Say

See shadowstats.com for a more complete picture.

Do read the intro first.

Posted by: itor at September 14, 2016 8:57 AM

When Trump (or any Republican) becomes president, I'm pretty sure our betters in the media, organized labor, the social services industry, and academia will be providing quite different numbers for unemployment, the "true" deficit, poverty, homelessness, education (again, Johnny can't read), and so forth, even if the ground truth remains the same.

Posted by: OldFert at September 14, 2016 4:23 PM

Obama will hang around DC so that he can raise hell to preserve his Legacy what ever in hell that is. Bet on it.
He has nothing to show for those eight years of screwing the pooch; imagine how it seems to have a vast emptiness for all eternity.

Posted by: Vermont Woodchuck at September 15, 2016 2:48 PM

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