Fern
Elite Member
- Sep 30, 2003
- 26,907
- 173
- 106
-snip-
My feeling is the unemployment numbers only tell us what the unemployment market looks like. It does exactly what is designed to do.
Who is this "us"?
If it's the "us" meaning it's for public consumption (and not just economists), and I suppose it is since a summary of results are widely reported, I don't think so.
When unemployment goes down because people despair and stop looking for work, that's misleading.
When unemployment goes up because the job market improves and the unemployed start looking for work again, that's misleading.
Does it give a favorable impression even though the new jobs are low paying and the new employee is underemployed?
Do part time jobs show up the same as as full time jobs? Does 1 person with 2 part jobs of 20 hrs each show up as 2 jobs added? (IDK, I haven't been able to find out.)
Under present conditions it can be very misleading.
Fern