Quality Weenie

Not True Unemployment Numbers

The state numbers just came out for May and the politicians are lauding the fact that the number of people on unemployment have dropped, the first time since January.

But they are not telling the whole story ...

The report shows that job losses are easing after companies made deep cuts earlier this year. But nearly half of recipients at the end of last month had exhausted the 26 weeks of benefits provided under the regular state program without finding work, according to Labor Department data.

And ...

Still, millions of Americans are receiving unemployment compensation under an emergency federal program authorized by Congress last summer and extended by the Obama administration's stimulus package.

About 2.4 million people received benefits under that program in the week ending May 30, an increase of more than 102,000 from the previous week. That's in addition to the 6.7 million people receiving benefits under the 26-week program typically provided by states.

So while the number of people on the normal 26 week unemployment compensation have "dropped" the number of people now on the extension is getting bigger. Those people are NOT included in the unemployment numbers, neither are the people who have dropped off the unemployment compensation rolls.

So while the offical national number is 9.4%, the real total is much higher.

To offically claim a drop in unemployment the first time claims number is the one that needs to fall, and for May it went up slightly.

Oh and Michigan came in at 14.1%, that is up quite a bit from April's number of 13.6%.

Posted by Quality Weenie at June 18, 2009 11:52 AM | TrackBack