Peeling Back the Onion Can Make You Cry

A couple months ago, we had a discussion here and here about what goes into the Unemployment Rate calculations. While the U-rate itself serves as a sort of normalized snapshot to assess overall trends of employment, some of us contended that it was helpful to look under the hood of that number at some of the variables in the algorithm to get a more detailed look at the state of employment.

This article is one example of that.

Again, the algorithm certainly serves a purpose and it is the same algorithm (to my understanding) that prior administrations used so I'm not asserting numerical foul play on anyone's behalf here. But given the unprecedented post-Carter unemployment, it is worth looking more deeply (than the macro-level numbers we generally use as a bellringer of change during better times) to understand where the Administration's policies are working and where they are not.