Stocks, Sports and everything else Headline Animator

Friday, March 6, 2009

The umemployment numbes, did you know about the U-6 etc?

OK , We got Feb 09 job data or NFP ( non farm payrolls ) and they declined a lot.
651000 jobs lost and the unemployment rate went up to 8.1%.
But thats not the whole picture.
Acc. to the BLS ( Bureau of Labor statistics ) , the unemployed numbers are broken up into 6 categories.
U-1 through U-6.
What is reported is U-3. Click here to see all.
They define U-3 as U-3 Total unemployed, as a percent of the civilian labor force (official unemployment rate)

The U-6 is as follows:
U-6 Total unemployed, plus all marginally attached workers, plus total employed part time for economic reasons, as a percent of the labor force plus all marginally attached workers..

Many argue that the U-6 is a true measure of unemployment as it captures all those who want full time work but have to work part time etc.
The U-3 catches only those who file for unemployment and not those who are workign only half as they want to or those who are no longer eligible etc.
So the U-6 for Feb 09 is 14.8% ( seasonally adjusted )
Something to keep in mind.

No comments:

Post a Comment

About Me

I am into stocks, options, all kinda sports, Music, food, Spirituality etc.
Powered By Blogger