The unemployment rate is often used to judge the health of the economy. Employment always goes down during difficult economic times. The more people who are unemployed, the closer we get to an economic SHTF.
Over the last several months, the media has been reporting that the unemployment rate is dropping. You'd think this would be good and that it would mean more people are working, but not necessarily. What the government considers “unemployed” is being both jobless and looking for a job. When someone gives up on their job search, they are not considered unemployed by the government, even if they don't have a job.
So, what are the real numbers? Has the unemployment rate gone down because more people have jobs, or because more people gave up? Read this article to find out.
In what was an “unambiguously” unpleasant April jobs payrolls report, with a March revision dragging that month's job gain to the lowest level since June of 2012, the fact that the number of Americans not in the labor force rose once again, this time to 93,194K from 93,175K, with the result being a participation rate of 69.45 or just above the lowest percentage since 1977, will merely catalyze even more upside to the so called “market” which continues to reflect nothing but central bank liquidity, and thus – the accelerating deterioration of the broader economy.
As the old saying goes, there's lies, damned lies, and statistics. Stay informed on what the reports really mean, and let us know what you learn in the comments!
