When Numbers Lie: Unemployment Data Exposed

Headline writers had a heyday bannering the latest employment numbers. The media, speaking with one voice, proclaimed the new data from the Labor Department was proof that the economy was off life support and on the road to recovery. In fact, Reuters went so far as to report that "government support" was the reason the employment figures experienced an uptick.

Apparently, it didn't dawn on anyone in the media to read the entire report from the Labor Department. Had any of these lazy journalists bothered to do a little digging, it would have become apparent that the employment numbers exposed the soft under belly of the Obama recovery scheme. Unemployment actually rose, but you would never know by reading or listening to news reporters and anchors, the vast majority of whom know nothing about economics.

First, let's set the record straight. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, unemployment in April climbed from 9.7 percent to 9.9. percent. In human terms, 15.3million Americans are out of work. That fact was intentionally buried on page three of the previously cited Reuters story. Page three! I recall the days when any hike in the unemployment number was greeted with screaming headlines on the front page.

As you pore over the data, there are other statistics that practically leap off the spreadsheet. For example, the number of people who have been out of work more than 27weeks now represents a staggering 45.9 percent of the total unemployed. That is the highest it has even been since the Bureau of Labor Statistics began keeping records. It means that as people lose their jobs, they are finding it nearly impossible to find opportunities in this economy.

Even the 9.9 percent unemployment figure disguises the true health of employment. The Bureau of Labor Statistics does not include in that percentage those workers who have quit looking for a job. Nor does it add in the those who want full time employment, but are forced to accept part-time work to make ends meet. If you include those two segments of the population, the actual unemployment percentage rose to 17.1 percent from 16.9 percent in March. This is a broad measurement that more accurately reflects the country's jobless situation.

Yet despite this overwhelming evidence the economy remains sick, every single news organization led off their reports with the fact that employers added 290,000 jobs in April. Most news headlines prattled about how employment surged last month. In its employment summary, the Bureau of Labor Statistics credited the payroll increase to Federal government hiring and the addition of temporary Census workers. These two facts are no where to be found in the Reuters story, nor in most other media accounts.

All of this proves that numbers do not lie. But there can be no doubt that the news people who write and speak about these issues do use figures to conceal the truth. When the supposed truth-tellers in our society, the news media, contrive to use statistics to paint a lie about the country's economy, the public is not served. It is little wonder that public distrust of the media grows wider each day. More than anything else, that explains why news media providers are dying.