Friday, December 17, 2010

Inaccurate Unemployment Figures

Raw government-announced unemployment figures can be misleading. They must be carefully interpreted. They never fully are in the media, often for politically-slanted purposes.

Examples: Unemployment numbers don’t tell you how long the unemployed have been out of work. Or how many are not working full days or have permanent jobs. Nor how many have given up looking for work. Those out of work a long time may not even be looking for employment, and are not being counted as unemployed,

All that results in a better than reported unemployment figure.

Moreover, the time of year reported is a factor. And weather conditions may have much to do with short-term implications of job statistics.

No comments:

Post a Comment