[geeks] Bad monster. No donut.

[Lionel Peterson]

>From: Phil Stracchino <phil.stracchino at speakeasy.net>
>Date: 2006/11/09 Thu PM 09:08:16 CST
>To: The Geeks List <geeks at sunhelp.org>
>Subject: Re: [geeks] Bad monster. No donut.

>Charles Shannon Hendrix wrote:

<snip>

>> Correction, unemployment *claims* just hit a 5 year low.
>> 
>> If you are past the time limit, or cannot file, then you don't get
>> counted as unemployed.
>
>Likewise, if your unemployment benefits have run out and you're not
>actively participating in any government-run work search or retraining
>programs (most of which are useful only for blue-collar jobs), SHAZAM!
>Whether you have a job or not, you're no longer unemployed!
>
>The government cooks the books quite shamelessly on this one.

Well, a few things come to mind on this topic:

a) The government has used the same measurement for unemployment for years, so while it is not a good absolute indicator of actual unemployment numbers, it is useful for comparison over time.

b) The government is not set up to track # of employed and unemployed citizens ( and/or non-citizens, but that is a whole 'nother kettle of fish) - how could they do it with any real accuracy?

c) To many people, employment is either 100% or 0%, depending on whether or not they have a job.

Personally, I think the employment climate is pretty good, at least in my area (central NJ/Philadelphia, PA), and in my field (software testing/computer system validation, mainly in the Pharma industry) - I can't speak to anything beyond that...

Lionel