Creative Arithmetic
May job growth much weaker than expected (Yahoo! / Reuters)
Today’s lesson in cognitive dissonance. Let me ask you a question, friends: Would a government of a truly civilized society collect survey data that would dictate domestic socioeconomic policy, and then simply decide to leave out anyone who might merely be discouraged about the overall situation?
I mean, shit, that sounds like something out of a Dilbert cartoon. But it’s true: the reason why job growth can drop AND unemployment can fall simultaneously is mostly (oversimplified) due to this: the government does not count people who have given up seeking work due to discouragement when calculating the unemployment rate. It’s a reasonable statistical adjustment, but it fails to account for an economic calamity in which a significant percentage of the population would be out of work (or underemployed) and, in our consumerist and increasingly expensive society, would be in the doldrums about it.
And we would want this, of course, because demoralized workers in excess supply are a great thing for stockholders. No, wait, we wouldn’t want that. Only the rich people would want that!
(FYI, this is the same federal government that concluded there are zero landmarks in New York City. Again, arithmetic is apparently problematic for our policy leaders.)