Decline in Official Unemployment Rate Misleading

The nation's unemployment rate plummeted dramatically to 8.6 percent last month, after hovering around 9 percent for much of the year, as the pace of job growth quickened, the Labor Department reported Friday morning.

Private businesses created another 140,000 jobs in November. And although that was offset a little by job losses of 20,000 in the U.S. Postal Service and other government agencies, it follows a revised gain of 210,000 jobs in October that was significantly larger than the 158,000 originally reported.

Economist Jerry Jasinowski called the lowest unemployment rate since March 2009 "icing on the cake after a week of good news" on the economy, which included signs of healthy growth in manufacturing, strong early holiday sales and a big rally in the stock market.

"None of this indicates we are out of the woods by any means," he said. "But in the overall scheme of things, there's nothing like a good solid dose of economic growth to reduce deficits, create jobs and foster holiday cheer."

The stock market welcomed the encouraging employment news at the start of trading Friday morning, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average shooting up 81 points to 12,101.

What those numbers fail to convey is the true unemployment rate. The official rate is the number of unemployed receiving benefits. It doesn't include those who have exceeded the benefits and are no longer considered unemployed, yet are actually still unemployed. It also doesn't include those who are underemployed, barely able to meet even their most basic needs. Our actual rate is closer to 15%. Or higher than during the Great Depression. 

http://m.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/dec/2/us-jobless-rate-fell-86-percent-last-month/