2 ms·
I have never heard of the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics being politically motivated. This is a very new accusation. Do you have any reference?
by datashow 7y ago
I have never heard of the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics being politically motivated. This is a very new accusation. Do you have any reference?
- dredmorbius 7y agoThe notion that unemployment (or other economic) statistics are manipulated is neither novel nor confined to the US specifically. Whether it's generally accurate is another question. But a Google Scholar search will (along with numerous false hits) turn up multiple discussions: https://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C39&q=unemployment+statistics+%28manipulated%7Cmanipulation%7Cmanipulating%29&btnG= https://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C39&q=une... I've chosen Scholar rather than a general Web (or literature) search as the frequency of this accusation online or in the general press is so common as to be a trope, though you can repeat my query in either. My own read is that unemployment is at best an incomplete metric for reasons expressed in the Brookings article: it fails to consider wages or compensation, and a large number of low-wage, low-skill, low-opportunity jobs really isn't commensurate with a strong labour sector.
- wolf550e 7y agoThere was that article I saw on HN where IIRC a doctor explained that disability diagnosis depends on the kind of work a person can get. If they are a blue collar worker and they can't stand for a whole shift, they get disability. If they can sit in front of a computer for 8 hours and work, they don't get disability, for same medical issue. People without college degrees get disability and stop seeking employment, making the economy worse off but making the employment statistics look better.