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In reply to the discussion: German unemployment lowest in 20 years [View all]mathematic
(1,439 posts)19. EU Unemployment definition
This post is dedicated to all the US government statistics haters.
EU definition of unemployment:
- aged 15-74 (in ES, SE (1995-2000), UK, IS and NO: 16-74),
- who were without work during the reference week, but currently available for work,
- who were either actively seeking work in the past four weeks or who had already found a job to start within the next three months.
From EU's statistics agency. source
US definition of unemployment:
Persons are classified as unemployed if they do not have a job, have actively looked for work in the prior 4 weeks, and are currently available for work. Persons who were not working and were waiting to be recalled to a job from which they had been temporarily laid off are also included as unemployed.
From the BLS. source
Wow! They're almost identical! This is no coincidence. It's the international standard agreed on by the International Labor Organization (a UN org). Nevertheless, there are minor differences in the data collection. BLS usefully keeps track of the adjusted data:
http://www.bls.gov/ilc/intl_unemployment_rates_monthly.htm#Rtable1 .
If anybody's really interested in the nitty-gritty, here's a research report from the BLS that explains the differences and how they are adjusted for. http://www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/2000/06/art1full.pdf .
So please, enough of this if-we-calculated-ours-like-they-calculated-theirs-we'd-be-at-1000% nonsense.
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Germany produces (high-quality) manufactured goods, US companies make profits and financial products
leveymg
Feb 2012
#1
If you really appreciated the third world, you're never say something like that.
TheWraith
Feb 2012
#18
The problem is, there's more and more of these Americans each passing day.
2ndAmForComputers
Feb 2012
#27
you will find a lot of DUers are a well traveled lot -- several are living in europe, the mideast
xchrom
Feb 2012
#10
That's only normal in countries where corporatism influences all levels of government.
Selatius
Mar 2012
#40
While agreeing with the gist of the posts praising the German system and culture...
JackRiddler
Feb 2012
#11
I think a nation's culture trumps it's form of government as the predictor of economic success.
Southerner
Feb 2012
#20
And Germany was the neocon example of a liberal economy destroying itself back during the "W"
applegrove
Feb 2012
#25
Considering modern Germany and the other choices, that my not be a bad outcome. nt
bluestate10
Feb 2012
#35