Gallup CEO Challenges Obama Unemployment Stats
February 8, 2015
Left. Jim Clifton,Chairman and CEO at Gallup, says real rate is 11.2%, not 5.6%."There's no other way to say this. The official unemployment rate, which cruelly overlooks the suffering of the long-term and often permanently unemployed as well as the depressingly underemployed, amounts to a Big Lie."
Clifton: "I may sud
Makow Comment: Those skewed unemployment numbers have wider implications. They move markets and people can profit or lose. Gold tanked Friday as the US economy was seen as very strong and the market sold off late in the day as it anticipated a rise in interest rates. It seems that the Cabalist Jewish view that perception is reality, even when based on a lie, has become the norm. Obama and his sponsors profit politically. Do they also profit economically?
by Jim Clifton
The Big Lie: 5.6% Unemployment
Here's something that many Americans -- including some of the smartest and most educated among us -- don't know: The official unemployment rate, as reported by the U.S. Department of Labor, is extremely misleading.
Right now, we're hearing much celebrating from the media, the White House and Wall Street about how unemployment is "down" to 5.6%. The cheer-leading for this number is deafening. The media loves a comeback story; the White House wants to score political points and Wall Street would like you to stay in the market.
None of them will tell you this: If you, a family member or anyone is unemployed and has subsequently given up on finding a job -- if you are so hopelessly out of work that you've stopped looking over the past four weeks -- the Department of Labor doesn't count you as unemployed. That's right.
While you are as unemployed as one can possibly be, and tragically may never find work again, you are not counted in the figure we see relentlessly in the news -- currently 5.6%.
Right now, as many as 30 million Americans are either out of work or severely underemployed. Trust me, the vast majority of them aren't throwing parties to toast "falling" unemployment.
There's another reason why the official rate is misleading. Say you're an out-of-work engineer or healthcare worker or construction worker or retail manager: If you perform a minimum of one hour of work in a week and are paid at least $20 -- maybe someone pays you to mow their lawn -- you're not officially counted as unemployed in the much-reported 5.6%. Few Americans know this.
Yet another figure of importance that doesn't get much press: those working part time but wanting full-time work. If you have a degree in chemistry or math and are working 10 hours part time because it is all you can find -- in other words, you are severely underemployed -- the government doesn't count you in the 5.6%. Few Americans know this.There's no other way to say this. The official unemployment rate, which cruelly overlooks the suffering of the long-term and often permanently unemployed as well as the depressingly underemployed, amounts to a Big Lie.
And it's a lie that has consequences, because the great American dream is to have a good job, and in recent years, America has failed to deliver that dream more than it has at any time in recent memory. A good job is an individual's primary identity, their very self-worth, their dignity -- it establishes the relationship they have with their friends, community and country. When we fail to deliver a good job that fits a citizen's talents, training and experience, we are failing the great American dream.
Gallup defines a good job as 30+ hours per week for an organization that provides a regular paycheck. Right now, the U.S. is delivering at a staggeringly low rate of 44%, which is the number of full-time jobs as a percent of the adult population, 18 years and older. We need that to be 50% and a bare minimum of 10 million new, good jobs to replenish America's middle class.
I hear all the time that "unemployment is greatly reduced, but the people aren't feeling it." When the media, talking heads, the White House and Wall Street start reporting the truth -- the percent of Americans in good jobs; jobs that are full time and real -- then we will quit wondering why Americans aren't "feeling" something that doesn't remotely reflect the reality in their lives. And we will also quit wondering what hollowed out the middle class.
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Thanks to Robert for the tip!
Related- Fiddling With Temperature data is greatest Science Scandal Ever
----------- "Dishonesty, intellectual and moral, has been elevated to an ontological principle and foundation of the modern western political thought and culture."- Lavrov
------------Tyler Durden of Zero Hedge weighs in
First Comment from Al Thompson
I have to admire the candid remarks by Mr. Clifton. I'm thinking that his numbers are very conservative. In my opinion, the "unemployment rate" is probably closer to 18-20%. However, whatever the true numbers are, they are bad and it is the results of the dummies in government. I call them govtards; university- educated intellectual morons. Their college educations didn't do much to help them properly manage the "government" as we have come to know it. The fact is, with these numbers, it means that 10 million people are losing their skills and causing family quarrels because of bad finances.
Bankers don't give a crap because they can just "print" or create more money and then charge the people even more interest on money that was never earned. Government is just a reflection of the idiotic banking system which has proven itself over a period of centuries as a proven failure. The bankers can't argue with that because just like anyone else, their value is measured by the results of their actions. Usury must go.
I think it is better for young people to develop skills more associated with their talents and interests and work for themselves. The skills pay the bills. If you decide to work for a corporation, you had better have a Plan B because it is only a matter of time the management will stab you in the back, leaving yourself and your family frantically trying to find work. It's better to work for yourself and then these numbers won't mean anything.
The "big lie" of 5.6% unemployment rate just goes to show how govtards will do anything to make themselves look good, when in fact they stink.
Gordon said (April 16, 2015):
This question has also disturbed me for many years as I could never make economic sense of it until I saw the light. Here in South Africa the franchise restaurants dominate the market and they operated on a churn and burn basis. The basic premise is that someone (a sucker) gets a retirement / retrenchment package and this together with their life savings is “invested†in purchasing a franchise restaurant. This sucker then lives in a fools paradise of running their own business and making losses for a year or two until such time as all the funds are exhausted or they run out of credit.