Economists who argue that there's something wrong with the unemployment numbers are buzzing about a new study by Katharine Bradbury, an economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, which suggests that millions of Americans who should be in the labor force aren't. "The addition of these hypothetical participants," she writes, "would raise the unemployment rate by one to three-plus percentage points."

So...we are really talking about 6% to 8% unemployment in the US, if this study is true!!

And:

Nonworking Americans aren't considered unemployed unless they are actively looking for work, and hence counted as part of the labor force. And a large number of people have, for some reason, dropped out of the official labor force.

Dropped out? Or couldn't find work?

It points to a big question: is the US system doing significantly better than Europe? I'm questioning this myself (but I have been awhile...)


"Once in awhile we get shown the light, in the strangest of places, if we look at it right" - Hunter/Garcia