[geeks] Bad monster. No donut.

[Phil Stracchino]

Lionel Peterson wrote:
>>> 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.

Well, sort of.  It's not useful for tracking the number of people who
are employed.  What it IS useful for is tracking the number of people
who have recently *become* unemployed, which doesn't necessarily have a
direct correlation with the first.  It can be low because there's near
full employment, or it can be low because nobody can afford to lay off
any more people.



-- 
 Same geek, same site, new location
 Phil Stracchino                     Landline: 603-429-0220
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 Renaissance Man, Unix generalist, Perl hacker, Free Stater