The Real Unemployment Numbers

The U.S. unemployment numbers are out today, and most headlines will show that the U.S. unemployment rate in November was 10.0 percent, down from 10.2 percent in October. That number is depressingly large, but even that under-counts the true number of unemployed. For instance, it doesn’t count those people who don’t have a job and have given up looking for one, or those who have found marginal part-time work but still can’t make ends meet and are still looking for a full-time job.

To explain who counts as unemployed and who does not, the folks at Mint.com created this video:

This is helpful - I’ve just learned I’m not really unemployed!

The Layoff List says:

The “Real” unemployment rate in the US is now 22%

One thing is for sure, the statistics compiled by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics leave a lot of people out. The real numbers of unemployed are much higher, and likely to continue to continue to grow.