I keep hearing about an employee shortage. Unemployment rate according to media is 3-4%. That’s low. Are the stats being manipulated?

Employers complain no one is available to work

But didn’t many people drop out of the workforce during Covid? Businesses closed etc. I hear many chose to stay out after the plague due to govt assistance “free money”.


Is the low unemployment percentage due to there being large numbers of people who have simply not returned to the workforce and are therefore not considered “unemployed”? IE no longer considered a part of the workforce so not counted in the statistics.

If so how are they paying bills? Is the govt still sending Covid assistance checks?

Attributed to Mark Twain: “There are three kinds of lies. There are lies, damn lies and statistics”.

Any enlightenment or comments appreciated.

The unemployment number is one of the most fraudulent numbers published.

Doesn’t account for the labor participation rate , of age adults that are no longer looking for work
It’s a very big number

quote:

Is the low unemployment percentage due to there being large numbers of people who have simply not returned to the workforce and are therefore not considered “unemployed”? IE no longer considered a part of the workforce so not counted in the statistics

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
You would be amazed by the number of American citizens living off the dole as they say in Canada. Then there are the self employed who work in nefarious businesses and do not pay taxes or list themselves as employed. I believe very few numbers that come out of Washington.

quote:

Originally posted by maxdog:
Are the stats being manipulated?

Does a bear text in the woods?

Why would the government ever lie to you?

Women took over HR, and men left.

If you look at laborforce, participation by gender… huge changes since the old days.

Massive cultural shift.

I also agree with Mike Rowe that it’s just not good for men to sit behind a computer screen 2200 hrs a year.

What a terrible vision for the future society of people, staring at screens into the void with their fingers on the keyboard.

We all know about statistics...

I've worked for myself for 40 years and until Covid came around would never qualify for unemployment and so had to just keep working. Our leaders decided during Covid that even folks like me could get unemployment, but guess what... I still couldn't for the simple reason I was still working. My work actually picked up during Covid because of all the people staying home.

Bogus.

For employers I know, no candidates can be found, for job seekers I know, no one is hiring.

Both can't be right.

Based on last disinformation whatever the feds say the rate is, the real rate it likely twice that

As for not being able to find workers I think that was in general a result of unemployment benefits being increased enough that minimum wage jobs didn’t look terribly attractive - it was real work which frightens most people.

I know several established businesses here in Tucson that have closed up due to workers squirting or just not showing up a few days after being hired.