7 ms·
U-3 will still be useful for answering many questions even if it becomes a lesser-used stat among politicians, because it's been tracked for much longer and bec
by rrrrrrrrrrrryan 6y ago
U-3 will still be useful for answering many questions even if it becomes a lesser-used stat among politicians, because it's been tracked for much longer and because it's tracked by almost every nation. You're not going to magically squeeze U-6 numbers out of Ireland in 1952.
Examples:
"How bad is our current recession compared to the great depression for the workforce?"
"How might raising the top marginal income tax bracket to 70% affect the labor market?"
"How does relaxing strict immigration policies contribute to job loss in a nation (if at all)?"
- alistairSH 6y agoAbsolutely true. No disagreement there. But, given an increasing income disparity between the top ~5% and bottom half, and a continuing sense of "being left behind" by many workers in labor-intensive industries, it seems doing a better job of describing those disenchanted workers (whether they be part-time at AutoZone, or recently given up looking, etc) would be beneficial to all. For one of those disenchanted employees, seeing "Unemployment is at all-time lows! The DOW is at a record high!" on the evening news (while they're working 3 part-time jobs for $9/hour and zero benefits) isn't just unhelpful, it's insulting.