In October of 2009 we had peaked at 10.2%, since then we have lost additional 153,000 jobs. Now the February unemployment is at 9.7%. There has been a rumor around Wall Street that the real unemployment number is around 16.8% (I don’t is it a rumor or the fact), and I know at the end of last year they did some adjustments where they wrote off a number of people and that’s how the number got lower (they still don’t have jobs but they are not in the numbers). What pisses me off is that we are being lied to on a constant basis about these economic announcements. (That’s why we should ignore the noise and look at charts and price action)
Correct.
Anybody’s UE that runs out is not counted anymore. Does not mean he/she found a job.
It’s called "Creative BookKeeping"
16.8% sounds even low.
It doesn’t include a bunch of people who gave up on looking for a job, as well as those who have jobs but don’t make enough to maintain their lifestyle (termed underemployed).
I’m pretty sure that estimate is near 20% for all the groups combined. Then think of the students, graduating college or high school looking for full-time work all of a sudden. The baby boomers are being told to stay in their jobs longer to remedy the stock crash, and it’s locking the younger generation out! So job demand is rising while job supply is shrinking. But once (if) the economy rebounds, this excess pool of job-seekers will accelerate the recovery