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theprof00 on 05 October 2012
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ECM said:
JazzB1987 said:
How accurrate is ths? In germany for example only people that are registered as LOOKING FOR A JOB count as unemployed. So if you live under a bridge or on a park bench. You are not counted.

It's basically the same here, which is a big part of the problem.

We only count those looking for a job--if you leave the labor pool, even though you want (but can't find) a job, you don't exist, so this artificially depresses/enhances the numbers even when the economy is doing well, which is why you hear the 10%+ number thrown around often because, alas, it's more accurate than the massaged numbers that work to politicians'--of both parties, depending upon who is ascendant-- advantage and no one else's.

I just don't get why that's such a big deal. Lots of people don't want or care to have jobs. Why should we penalize the potus for people that have no care for that?

Like, when I was in school, I couldn't have a job because if I did, I wouldn't count as a dependent. That would could me in "the real unemployment rate" as someone who isn't employed, which is a negative, but I didn't want a job.