Unemployment

Here is a KEY concept - "jobless" and "unemployed" do NOT mean the same thing

There are six different measures of unemployment.

As of March, 2008, U6 is about 16%, while U3 8.1%.

• U3 is what the conventional news channels are reporting.
• Some folks are suggesting U6 more closely approximates how unemployment was measured pre-Reagan, while others suggest it would represents a bit higher than how actual unemployment was measured pre-Reagan.
• * Note that “unemployed” has a very specific definition, and is very different from “jobless”

Here's more about unemployment, including details that U6-U3 is accelerating (that's bad)

Some folks are jobless because unemployment benefits are higher than taking a temporary job

http://www.patriotledger.com/business/x1229542450/Unemployment-vs-temporary-work

I see the same “morality” arguments starting for this as I do for walking away from home mortgages. Great business decision, "poor" moral one. Hmm, gives new meaning to “business ethics”. J

U-1 Persons unemployed 15 weeks or longer, as a percent of the civilian labor force

U-2 Job losers and persons who completed temporary jobs, as a percent of the civilian labor force

U-3 Total unemployed, as a percent of the civilian labor force (official unemployment rate)

U-4 Total unemployed plus discouraged workers, as a percent of the civilian labor force plus discouraged workers

U-5 Total unemployed, plus discouraged workers, plus all other marginally attached workers, as a percent of the civilian labor force plus all marginally attached workers

U-6 Total unemployed, plus all marginally attached workers, plus total employed part time for economic reasons, as a percent of the civilian labor force plus all marginally attached workers

* NOTE: Marginally attached workers are persons who currently are neither working nor looking for work but indicate that they want and

are available for a job and have looked for work sometime in the recent past. Discouraged workers, a subset of the marginally attached,

have given a job-market related reason for not looking currently for a job. Persons employed part time for economic reasons are those

who want and are available for full-time work but have had to settle for a part-time schedule. For more information, see "BLS

introduces new range of alternative unemployment measures," in the October 1995 issue of the Monthly Labor Review.

Some comparisons for unemployment, men's vs women's rates, etc. - 1948-2004