It’s pretty much inevitable...
As dismal as the official unemployment rate, the ‘real’ (or realer) unemployment rate is just plain catastrophic. There’s a lot of mumbo-jumbo, (and some not so mumbo-jumbo) about unemployment. Little of this, regardless of its merits, accomplishes very much, other than confusing people and/or reiterating what they all ready know: "Things is bad." Then there’s the annual (every time there’s a recession) calls for the government to come clean about the ‘real’ unemployment figure. "It’s a conspiracy, man" Your right! It’s called poli-ticks. The government actually does track the ‘real’ unemployment figure; it just doesn’t like to publicize it. Learning about the ‘real’ unemployment rate is actually fun (er...maybe not fun) and easy. I think even you Netheads can learn it, and just as important - remember it. This is important dufus: remember!
The Labor Department tabulates six different unemployment figures each month, ranked U1 to U6. Their midpoint, U3, is the standard figure released to the press and reported on to anxious readers before they head to work (or don’t). The U3 indicator measures the number of jobless Americans as a percent of the labor force. It doesn’t include those who have stopped looking for work but want a job, or part-time staffers who’d prefer full-time employment. That tally is represented by U6, which hit 15.8 percent in April. Nearly one-fifth of Americans are either unemployed, underemployed or have given up.
http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2009/05/jobless-quants/
So did you get that? Think all those crappy rock bands still imitating U2 (U2 was crappy enough) then double that to get U6. The U3 and the U6, that’s what most (informed) people talk about. The U3 is the official unemployment rate. The U6 is the Labor Department’s broadest measure of unemployment. It also measures people who have given up but still want/need to work. It also measures people who are working part time kos they can’t find anything better. U3 unemployment: 9.4. Holy Moses! U6: 16.4 in May. Were should I jump?
But it can be even worse obviously by state/region. Michigan had the worst unemployment by state: U3 12.9! What do you think their U6 might be?
http://www.nemw.org/...
Then there is Black unemployment. The common wisdom is that Black unemployment runs about twice that of white... and that’s not too far from the truth. Its U3 is a devastating 14.9 percent! Burn baby burn!
But maybe there is a silver lining to all this inevitable ‘turmoil’. In the long run it may save cites the expense of tearing down large segments of their municipalities. Kos the latest word in urban planning is (I’m sure you’ve heard this word before) Downsizing. Flint for example is planning on turning large swaths of its fair city into a film set for Michael Moore’s next documentary.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/...
http://www.dailykos.com/...
But it’s not just the cities. What do you think is going to happen to all those unsold McMansions ?
http://www.bls.gov/...
http://www.wired.com/...