Unemployment Rate

According to former U.S. Labor Secretary, Robert Reich, employment needs to grow by at least 90,000 a month just to keep up with the growth of the population. But, since the fall of 2008, the civilian labor force has actually shrunk from 154.7 million to 153.8 million, a contraction of about 900,000.
 

It's not that fertility suddenly dropped or there was a massive plague. It should have grown by 3.24 million since then, but it didn't. Which means working age adults are simply not being counted by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS.

They are fudging the numbers.

Adding the 900,000 contraction to the expected growth, the total civilian labor force should be 4.14 million larger than is being counted, at about 157.94 million by now. And the unemployed should be about that much more larger, since if they could be counted as working, BLS would most certainly be counting them.

So, the amount of unemployed should really be measured at about 17.443 million, instead of 13.303 million, or a rate of 11.04 percent instead of 8.6 percent. And the underemployed rate should be about 17.8 percent instead of 15.6 percent, with 28.145 million people looking for full-time work that cannot find it.

Thoughtsjustoffcenter: Heck YES, they're fudging the numbers - I call it outright LIEING! When are people going to WAKE UP! If you look at the actual number from the Department of Labor, you'll find the hidden number of 16.4 percent. Yup, it's there, you've just got to look for it in Table A-15. What's that saying? "Number can lie, just like a Statistician," or what the District Attorney  once told us (El Paso, TX): I can get a Peanut Butter sandwich indicted, the problem is, can I make it stick." So watch those numbers!