It's actually kinda straightforward, and very clear about what measures they're using. The numbers are bit scary - "The employment-population ratio, at 56.6 percent, changed little over the month but is 4.5 percentage points lower than in February."
"The number of persons not in the labor force who currently want a job, at 7.2 million, changed little in September; this measure is 2.3 million higher than in February. These individuals were not counted as unemployed because they were not actively looking for work during the last 4 weeks or were unavailable to take a job."
So that's 12m officially unemployed, plus 7m "not in the labor force" but who want a job.
So yeah, the article is kinda on point; that the numbers don't mean what they think we mean. But I have to agree: that's not because the numbers aren't available for anyone to look at and understand.
Collecting disability doesn’t necessarily mean you’re incapacitated or can’t work at all. Depression is a common disability, for example. It’s very common for veterans who served more than 4 years to get some amount of disability if they are persistent, and often not for crippling injuries (sleep apnea is a popular one)
Yes, it is truly scary. A large portion of them are in more rural areas that have been decimated. Also, IIRC states pay money to trainers/consultants that help people get on the national disability programs.
That number doesn't match what the SSA publishes in their annual reports.[1]. They put the figure on disability at 8.9 million disabled workers, with 11.2 million total beneficiaries once you include the disabled workers' children.)
That said, the real figures are still startling. They represents 4.4% of the US worker population but some states rely incredibly heavily on the program.
Alabama - 8.0% of the population
Arkansas - 7.9% of the population
Kentucky - 7.6% of the population
Maine - 7.4% of the population
Mississippi - 7.5% of the population
West Virginia - 8.6% of the population
No idea why this was downvoted into oblivion, so I vouched for it. It seems to state factual information and cites direct sources. The information presented is located on page 29. Maybe instead of just drive-by downvoting, you can state some reasoning for doing so.
The reality is that "unemployment" is a highly visible metric. Sure, the data itself is available... A big part of the reason why it's important to have this data available is exactly for this purpose: call bullshit on the unemployment numbers when necessary...
...especially considering that "want a job" is measured in very specific ways.
> reality is that "unemployment" is a highly visible metric.
Is it though? The photos of queues for jobs and unemployment benefits is something of the distant past. Find out that a different measure makes the rate 3x higher came as news to me.
https://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.nr0.htm
and the numbers:
https://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.t01.htm
It's actually kinda straightforward, and very clear about what measures they're using. The numbers are bit scary - "The employment-population ratio, at 56.6 percent, changed little over the month but is 4.5 percentage points lower than in February."
"The number of persons not in the labor force who currently want a job, at 7.2 million, changed little in September; this measure is 2.3 million higher than in February. These individuals were not counted as unemployed because they were not actively looking for work during the last 4 weeks or were unavailable to take a job."
So that's 12m officially unemployed, plus 7m "not in the labor force" but who want a job.
So yeah, the article is kinda on point; that the numbers don't mean what they think we mean. But I have to agree: that's not because the numbers aren't available for anyone to look at and understand.