http://www.zerohedge.com/news/real-unemployment-rate-hits-117-spread-between-reported-and-propaganda-data-hits-record

I've known this for about a year. How many others know about this?

It's above 20% in California, if you count the people that have stopped looking for work or work part-time. I'm almost ready to leave as I don't the situation getting any better any time soon.

My sources say it's over 20% nationwide.

You guys are lucky, here the "official" unemployment rate (UR) is 25%, but it only takes in account if somebody applied for a position in the last 60 days ( some say 30 days) else they aren't counted. The official UR where I live is almost 50%.

The unofficial UR is about 50-60%

It's impossible in most countries to determine actual unemployment rates. Especially in the US and South Africa, where unemployment benefits only last for a finite time and there is no other method of population data collection, the only source that can be used is the number of people actually claiming unemployment benefits.

Statistical unemployment figures are not designed to make any particular statement about the actual number of people out of work. They are a point of reference calculated in a consistent manner as a measure of economic performance in comparison to a previous time. Even if the quoted unemployment rate five years ago was half what it is now, you can guarantee that the actual rate was at least more than double it.

To the best of my knowledge, there's only one country that can calculate a precise actual unemployment rate - North Korea.

It's not propaganda it's how the figures are tabulated. This applies regardless of which party is in office as well as which individual President. And as somebody else posted, it's impossible for the government to know who is out of work if they're not receiving benefits. Unless of course it's OK for them to spy on Americans to see who is really out of work.

And I seriously doubt that you'd want that. I know I don't. That's more or less completely right. Although for countries that have basically unlimited periods of eligibility the difference between the actual figure and the estimate is going to be a statistical tie.

I think it's funny how the OP seems to know nothing about how this works and is suggesting that it's propaganda. Which it isn't, anybody who really cares about those figures knows how they're tabulated. Everybody else cares whether they and their loved ones have a job.

Hence my first link post. Given the OP's posting history, it was obvious that his intention was political flamebaiting, not a discussion about the actual unemployment rate.

When it comes to unemployment figures, political bigots will always quote the statistical figures for their party of choice and quoted actual figures for the other party in order to confuse and mislead.

Well, the thing is that the national unemployment rate is a sort of average. It's entirely possible for the rate in CA to be at or above 20% without the federal figure being inaccurate.

Unfortunately, there really isn't a good solution to factoring in the people that have given up on getting a job. They may or may not really need a job. Some of those will be students looking to pay off their debt before they leave college. Others will be second jobs where cutting back is a possible solution to the problems.

CA itself has issues that need to be solved because I don't want or need any more Californians coming to WA and screwing up our political system any more than they did. That's not to say that Californians aren't welcome, just that they should understand that prop 13 was bad and instituting it in WA is also a bad idea. I know. You have the most clear understanding of the situation of the folks I've seen post in here. I may not always agree with you, but you at least understand the basics of what's going on.

Which reminds me, I need to write that book on economics I've been thinking about writing. I'm at a disadvantage because unlike mainstream economists, I'm not a moron.

I didn't, because I couldn't care less about the unemployment rate abroad. Maybe they affect me indirectly, but I am more interested in the local unemployment rate because it can affect me directly, I might even become part of the statistics.

It's not all that difficult to get a good unemployment number. Government tracks:

- number of people working (FICA reporting)
- number of people hired over any given period (state and federal reporting statutes)
- number of people who lost a job over a given period (state and federal reporting statutes)
- demographic data from the census and other sources, giving age and other relevant bits; this gives the number of people, based on age, in the 'worker pool'
- data from social programs

This is in addition to the data collected for use in helping generate the U3 number, unemployment claims.

Now, if it's to be called propaganda then it should be noted that every administration has been using the much friendlier U3 number for as long as I can remember. The next administration will likely continue the trend.

There's just something about the thread title casually failing to note that this information is about the United States only that... irks me.

According to our media, it's pretty bad here too. Our unemployment rate recently sky rocketed (according to the press) from 3.7% to 3.9%. I guess it's all a matter of perspective..

The numbers are skewed because they don't even take into account babies and the dead.

No. This comment of yours is a flamebait.
I've posted nothing inflammatory, but this garbage you've posted would have taken the better of me on a bad day. Funny how trollers always trollcall.

@EVERYONE ELSE
I think most everyone wouldn't have a choice in collecting unemployment if they were out of a job, so that's not really a relevant talking point.
Even saying that it was, doesn't the government hire people to go around and collect statistics?

Now, and please liberals don't eat me alive we can have discussion, my point with this thread is that unemployment fails to account for people like me that are living at home unable to get a job. I'm 18 and still haven't gotten a job. Now, maybe this is a double standard on republicans parts and unemployment statistics have always been collected the same, but then again my brothers and sisters have always easily been able to find jobs and now me and my friends cannot despite numerous applications.