Unemployment rate much worse than 9.1%

June 3, 2011

Steve McCann
American Thinker

Just how dire is the unemployment situation? The May employment situation has just been released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics showing an unemployment rate of 9.1%. But what are the actual statistics that reveal the true depth of employment misery?

In the month of May the BLS claimed that 139.8 million people were employed out of a civilian noninstitutional population [those who live in the US, older than 16 and not in an institution or active military] of 239.3 million or an effective rate of 58.4%. The civilian labor force which takes into account those the BLS consider employed and actively looking for work (not those who have dropped out of the labor force) stood at 153.7 million or 64.2% of the civilian noninstitutional population.

The last time there were 139.8 million employed (prior to the Obama years) was in October of 2004. At that time the civilian noninstitutional population was 224.2 million for an effective rate of 62.4%. The civilian labor force was estimated to be 147.8 million or 66% of the civilian noninstitutional population. The published unemployment rate was 5.5%.

http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2011/06/unemploymnet_rate_muc_h_worse_than_91.html