Wow...the U6 unemployment rate is 15.6 percent.

[roamer65]

http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.t12.htm

Been awhile since I looked it up. I think it may just reach 20 percent. :(

[sarcasmo]

1. The true number the sheep can't handle.

[roamer65]

2. They bury it pretty well at bls.gov

Took me about 10 minutes to find it.

[sarcasmo]

3. Would like to find that number for my State of Michigan. Close to 22 percent

Would be my guess.

[roamer65]

4. My state as well, fellow Michigander.

I am hearing of rates around 26% up in the counties around Bay City, Saginaw and Flint. If true, they are Great Depression level rates.

[blue_onyx]

6. I was wondering about the state by state numbers too

22% would be a good guess for MI. I could see it being higher though.

[sarcasmo]

7. Agreed, 25% wouldn't be out of the question.

[TahitiNut]

9. The AVERAGE U-6 for 2008 in Michigan was 15.1%

http://www.bls.gov/lau/stalt.htm

Michigan had the highest 2008 rates for five of the six measures, including a CPS-based unemployment rate of 8.3 percent, a U-1 of 3.6 percent, and a U-6 of 15.1 percent. (Rhode Island's U-2, at 4.8 percent, was slightly higher than Michigan's 4.7 percent.) Rhode Island and California had the next highest unemployment rates, 7.9 and 7.1 percent, respectively, and were among the five highest in all the remaining measures.

[OhioChick]

11. 11.4% Ohio....

Much higher.

[sarcasmo]

17. 2008 I would believe that, Thanks. We have had many more layoffs the first quarter of 09.

[pinqy]

12. This should be interesting

Who actually uses the U-6 and what for? And it's ridiculous to say it's the "true number" as if there was some Divinely Decreed definition of unemployment. Calling a figure that includes people who are employed as the "true unemployment rate" is ridiculous.

[Wednesdays]

15. Really, now. Those employed, yet underemployed, must be giddy right now

It's nice to hear you're sleeping tight these days. :eyes:

[Ikonoklast]

19. I'm employed. I've earned a grand total of $0.00 since October.

But, as a self-employed contractor, I am not counted as among the unemployed.

I know lots of people in the very same boat I am. Hell, I had breakfast with a dozen guys this morning in the same circumstances; self-employed and unable to collect unemployment insurance, so no one counts them.

There is a large number of uncounted unemployed in this economy.

[pinqy]

21. No there are not.

The self-employed ARE counted as unemployed (well, if they didn't work during the reference period) Unemployment benefits have nothing to do with the Unemployment rate. You ARE most definitely represented in the unemployment rate.

[TahitiNut]

23. It's like whack-a-mole ... 'correcting' this myth every time it crops up.

It frustrates the Hell out of me, in the Age of the Internet, how people just ignore the facts and continually spew this crap. Lord knows there are some issues with such data collection and tabulation, but the falsehoods about UE compensation have nothing to do with them.

[TahitiNut]

5. Notice the increase from 2008? From 9.6% in March 2008 to 15.6% in March 2009

That's a huge increase.

[roamer65]

8. Very large.

Reminds me of 1982 so god damn much. I remember with the 1981-82 recession, I didn't feel we were out of it until around mid-1984.

[Bozita]

13. That's a 73% increase in ONE year

I can tell you that the traffic at a local day-old/surplus bread store is a whole lot greater than a year ago.

And I can also say that there are more vacant homes in SE Michigan than we are aware of. Just drive through your neighborhood on garbage day. Lots more homes with nothing out front than 'for sale' and 'foreclosure' signs.

[CoffeeCat]

10. My husband took a $1,200 per month paycut...

He's not in the unemployment stats, but let me tell you---we have drastically cut our spending.

We're living as if we were only on unemployment.

There are so many who have been negatively impacted by this Decession, but they don't show up on the
statistics that are widely reported.

[Hannah Bell]

14. & for men over 20, over 12%. that figure omits teens & a lot of college kids, who tend

to have higher UE normally.

[Hawkowl]

16. U3 will hit 15%

I fully expect U3 to hit 15% nationally. There are plenty of places where it already exceeds 15%. It's just the rest of the country hasn't caught up yet. The "stimulus" package was woefully small, and it won't show it's full affect for at least another 9 months. The bailout plan is criminally inadequate. And GM and Chrysler will declare bankruptcy which will cause many, many, other collateral damage bankruptcies and resultant layoffs nationwide.

This depression is like a tsunami where everybody is saying what wave? as the water is all sucked out to sea before it returns in a horrific, smashing, deluge.

Bummer. Hope isn't going to do shit at this point.

[Kip Humphrey]

18. Your prediction may be upon us...

Maybe a tiny bit higher using more traditional methods of computation (pre-Bush eras math):



Courtesy of John Williams' Shadow Government Statistics
http://www.shadowstats.com/

[nichomachus]

20. This doesn't include the

hundreds of thousands of college seniors who will enter the workforce in about eight weeks or so.

[Catshrink]

22. What the "U's" mean -- I had to look it up.

U means "under utilization of labor" and has 6 categories:

U-1 Persons unemployed 15 weeks or longer, as a percent of the civilian labor force
U-2 Job losers and persons who completed temporary as a percent of the civilian labor force
U-3 Total unemployed, as a percent of the civilian labor force (official unemployment rate).
U-4 Total unemployed plus discouraged workers, as a percent of the civilian labor force plus discouraged workers
U-5 Total unemployed, plus discouraged workers, plu sall other marginally attached workers, as a percent of the civilian labor force plus all marginally attached workers
U-6 Total unemployed, plus all marginally attached workers, plus total employed part time for economic reasons, as a percent of the civilian labor force plus all marginally attached workers

[flying rabbit]

25. thanks for the "U's"

i was too lazy to look it up

[nilram]

24. This is not a great depression; this is only a recession.

I repeat -- this is not a great depression.

This is only a recession.

This may be the "greatest financial disaster since the Great Depression" but, this is only a recession.

If this were a real depression, you would be instructed where to tune in your local area. This is only a recession.

[roamer65]

26. It may not be like the GD, but its becoming much like the Panic/Depression of 1893.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panic_of_1893

[nilram]

27. I agree --

I was trying to make the point with a sarcastic tone. The unemployment numbers as covered by the press don't, in my opinion, reflect the real severity of the problem -- and U6 is more comparable to the unemployment numbers used in the past. While we aren't at the 25% unemployment of the 1930s, U6 would have us even above the range of unemployment estimates for the 1890s. When the media calls it the "worst financial crisis since the Great Depression," well, I think it's just a euphemism for "we're pretty screwed, folks." (And, um, pardon my own euphemism, but you know what I mean.)

I wish I'd saved the reference, but I read a columnist who wrote that in the early days of the Great Depression, there were articles denying that they were entering a depression -- claiming it wasn't the 1890s again. And now I read articles claiming its not the 1930s again. I wouldn't bet the farm on it.

[TheWatcher]

28. But The Stock market Has gone up 30% In Six Weeks!!!!!!!!11111111111

So you are obviously a Debbie Downer and Jealous Of Obama and I believe "The Recovery" because they say so and you won't let me feel good so I'm putting you on ignore and the Banks are having Record Profits because they say so and you just can't handle that things are getting so much better and you're a Naysaying Poo Pants!!!!!!!!!!!1111111111111111111111

:sarcasm:

Sorry about that. Just getting that in for them before they get here.

Reality is very painful for some.