Jobless giving up question The article and excerp below state that many of the jobless have given up the search. My question is, how do "they" know this? "WASHINGTON – Lack of confidence in the economic recovery led employers to shed a more-than-expected 85,000 net jobs in December even as the unemployment rate held at 10 percent. The rate would have been higher if more people had been looking for work instead of leaving the labor force because they can't find jobs. The sharp drop in the work force — 661,000 fewer people — showed that more of the jobless are giving up. Once people stop looking for jobs, they're no longer counted among the unemployed."

It is a numbers game with made up numbers to make things try to seem better that they really are. Obama can't show 20% unemployment so he has someone move unemployed people out of the labor force and low and behold the unemployment rate still holds at just 10%.

i bet i fall into the no-longer looking category. i still am, just havent found anything quantifiable since my displacement on 1-19-09. if you're laid off a year, do they figure you arent looking rather than figure they really fucked things up?

Is that before or after Obama has someone hide his Kenyan birth certificate?

OH REALLLLY!!!!! He's Kenyan born?

You didn't know that? This has been a hidden issue all during the election. i knew about it way in advance and the media would not broadcast it. I can't even count how many lawsuits were launched. Moat got paid off in an offer they couldn't refuse.

Didn't know that either! and now that I can't stand the guy, LOL, let's kick Mr. No-I-Can't-Its-Not-My-Fault's sorry ass back to Africa! LOL!

give it a freakin rest already - you lost that election - suck it up

You are incredibly dense. You are bitter and have no sense of humor at all. Go to hell, bitch.

sucks to you I guess have a nice day

that was be you

Obama was born in Hawaii, but most people don't realize Hawaii in a state in the USA.

so where's the long form birth cert? publish it on da interweb...

crimes against humanity It's awesome how the Bush regime gets off free and clear of any responsibility for creating the many messes, here in the USA and abroad, that have brought on so much misery for so many. Obama can never fix this, he's in over his head. Now it's on his watch, he will take the blame. Bush and the rest of his criminal cronies need to be brought to justice... but Obama is too soft, he let him off the hook. He should act ruthless, without mercy.

so true It is finally how people think that the economy has just tanked in the last year or 2, this started years ago with bush and even clinton. The housing market imploded because too many people that shouldn't have got home loans got them, corporate greed sucked billions of dollars out of people's pockets, just take the bloated tick-like oil and gas industry, auto manufacturing did not improve their technology because they were making millions selling gas guzzlers, and the politicians play blind because lobbyists and big business have them bought off.

Yes the jobless rate numbers are a numbers game but Obama didn't create the game or write the rules, that was done long before him. The numbers are gotten basiy by phone survey and if you are unemployed and looking you count. If you have given up looking then you don't count, you retired. Then there is all the playing with seasonal adjustments and such, another way to massage the numbers to look better in the news.

Sometimes I wonder if we're being prepped up for the news: No more UI extensions. Whatever the decision is on this, I'd like to know because I need to make some important decisions. So do employers! Keeping everyone in the dark is doing job seekers and employers a disservice, IMO. I'd love to be a fly on the wall during one of these 60K household interviews... Interviewer: "Hi...how goes the job search?" Jobless one: "Oh that? Well - I wasn't having any luck with that so, I've decided to settle for an early retirement and plan on spending the rest of my days playing fantasy football."

I doubt they'll cut the extensions more likely to go ahead and extend the cutoff deadline as propsed in the jobs creation bill Don't see them adding anymore tiers though even though in the 1980s recession (which wasn't as bad as this) they did SIX extensions

Government will run out of money next year... Many disabled people who were gainfully employed, and are now out of work, are now trying for government disability. People 62 and older who are out of work are going for early retirement. Companies are hiring contract. Contract workers cannot pay theri taxes...

Fire-up the money printers? LOL!

they use a pile of govt algorithms that play with the number of total jobs in the US, taxpayers, and jobless claims as they apply to renewed claims or new claims etc etc. what gets me is how do they factor in folks who got hired and laid off twice throughout the recession. its like mcdonalds has sold 100billion burgers but there hasnt been 100billion americans.

que ???? its like mcdonalds has sold 100billion burgers but there hasnt been 100billion americans erm I guess each of the americans eat more than ONE burger?

well obviously but my point is you can doctor numbers to manipulate the public and have them HEAR what you want them to HEAR. I, muscleheadbob, have never dropped a pass thrown by a portuguese midget playing for the nfl. that creates a lot of thoughts but doesnt ask the questions. i have never played in the nfl. i have never played football with a portuguese midget and i have no recollection of any portuguese midgets in the nfl. now for a fact that reflects this-- Donovan McNabb has the fewest interceptions in the NFL for any quarterback. This fact does NOT highlight his endless array of intentional groundings, just makes him look like he is talented.

lies, damned lies and statistics nothin ever changes

statistics is an art........ a Nobel prize winning economist at the University of Oklahoma started his course out with this statement........"A good statistician will provide proof through empirical data....a master statistician can provide the desired empirical outcome with the very same data....it's an art of the science. Tell me what you want to prove and I can provide you the desired answer with enough data. The formulas in statistic are the science, the manipulation is the art." We have a vast number of master statisticians working for the government.

Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh Well! There's always 2011 or 2012 or 2013 or ***, ***, 2017?

Maybe it's question they ask on the phone survey. BBS is it?

it's also based on employer reports done through the state each quarter they ask how many were employed on the 12th in each quarter and also remember that if you were employed even for ONE day out of the survey period you are considered "employed"

Do you know if employers are also asked about the number of applicants? LOL! I feel misrepresented by these 60,000 households!