by Gary Bauer
Fewer Workers = Lower Unemployment?
The nation's unemployment rate fell to 8.2% based on data released Friday by the Department of Labor. According to the report, only 120,000 new jobs were created in March. Most economists were predicting more than 200,000 new jobs amid signs of an economic recovery.
But there was bad news buried in the report -- 164,000 Americans dropped out of the labor force last month. These folks are so discouraged that they quit looking for work. As a result, they no longer count when the bureaucrats tally the official unemployment rate.
If everyone got so discouraged that they stopped looking for a job, the unemployment rate would go to zero. It is hard to celebrate a lower unemployment rate that is the direct result of fewer people actually working. Yet that is the reality of this economic "recovery."
Many Americans are frustrated that the government continues to report an improving unemployment rate when the number of workers is declining. Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-CA) wants to change that. He has introduced legislation that would require the government to include discouraged workers in its official unemployment statistic.
That figure already exists. It's known as the U-5 rate, which currently stands at 9.6%. But it is overshadowed by the official unemployment figure known as U-3. Hunter's legislation would make the U-5 rate America's official unemployment rate.
As Rep. Hunter recently explained, "We need to be realistic and focus our attention on the figure that provides the most accurate representation of national unemployment -- not the figure that under-represents the challenge we face."