Unemployment Continues to Rise

Either One Is Bad

The number of people filing first-time unemployment claims last week rose to 500,000, a level not seen since last November and well above the expectations of most economists. But the true number of unemployed Americans may be much worse than even the grim data of the U.S. Department of Labor indicate. TechnoMetrica Market Intelligence, which conducts polls for major new media such as Investors’ Business Daily, has expressed skepticism about the official unemployment numbers. In its latest poll, TMI found that 28.6% of households surveyed have at least one member who is out of work, which translates to an unemployment rate of over 22%, well above the official 9.5% unemployment rate. The Bureau of Labor Statistics tabulates the total unemployment rate at 16.5%.

The largest source of the discrepancies between official and unofficial numbers is likely the number of people who are underemployed with part-time jobs or temporary positions for which they are overqualified. According to the Department of Labor, 8.6 million Americans fall into this category. Indeed, a Pew Research survey found that more than half of workers had suffered a decline in their income. The “discouraged unemployed”, those who have exhausted their allotted unemployment benefits or who have given up working, also contribute to the undercounting. Whichever measure you use to capture the data, the unemployment rate continues to be unacceptable. Had policymakers focused on supporting the traditional engine of job growth, small businesses, rather than the big bailout strategy, we would be in a different place.