Official unemployment rate misleading, says Gallup CEO (Grumpy Editor)

“The official unemployment rate, as reported by the U.S. Department of Labor, is extremely misleading,” declared Jim Clifton, chairman and CEO of Gallup Inc. in an opinion piece on the company’s website, observed Grumpy Editor.

That statement didn’t rattle major media, despite the fact it came from the head of an 80-year-old research-based, global performance-management consulting company, noted for its Gallup Poll, with 30 offices in almost two dozen countries.

“Right now,” continued Clifton, “we're hearing much celebrating from the media, the White House and Wall Street about how unemployment is ‘down’ to 5.6 percent. The cheerleading for this number is deafening. The media love a comeback story, the White House wants to score political points and Wall Street would like you to stay in the market.”

Clifton pointed out, “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.” Currently, he added, “as many as 30 million Americans are either out of work or severely underemployed.”

He said few Americans know that an unemployed person performing one hour of work per week and paid at least $20 is “not officially counted as unemployed in the much-reported 5.6 percent.” Also, those with degrees working 10 hours part time but wanting full-time work are termed severely underemployed --- and also not counted in the 5.6 percent, he explained.

“Gallup defines a good job as 30+ hours per week for an organization that provides a regular paycheck,” said Clifton. “Right now, the U.S. is delivering at a staggeringly low rate of 44 percent, which is the number of full-time jobs as a percent of the adult population, 18 years and older.”

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