STUDY: TRUE UNEMPLOYMENT RATE IS 26.1 PERCENT

If an unemployed person is defined as someone seeking a full-time job that pays a living wage but is unable to find one, the actual U.S. unemployment rate is 26.1 percent, according to a study by the nonprofit Ludwig Institute for Shared Economic Prosperity.
The official definition of unemployment is a person who is earning no money and is actively looking for work. It was created in the 1870s by Carroll Wright, the statistician who later founded the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The definition excludes people who are underemployed or who have become so discouraged about finding a job that they are no longer actively looking.
The official U.S. unemployment rate in September was 7.9 percent. Using the Ludwig Institute’s definition, the true unemployment rate for the month was:

• 24.3 percent for Whites;
• 30.8 percent for Hispanics;
• 32.0 percent for Blacks;
• 22.3 percent for men;
• 30.8 percent for women;
• 31.0 percent for people with a high-school education;
• 48.2 percent for those who lack a high-school diploma.

“I was shocked that a quarter of the population that want work can’t earn a living wage,” said Eugene Ludwig, the institute’s founder and a former U.S. Comptroller of the Currency. He expressed hope that the study will focus policymakers’ attention on the issue.
“Almost without fail, whatever economic policies have been emerging from government, the underlying reality is an unacceptable outcome for a vast portion of the population,” the institute’s study concluded.