4 ms·

Consistency in how statistics are measured is important. You can rag on the methods but without consistency it’d be meaningless. The majority of what you term

• vmception 6y ago
  I wonder if you are "hopelessly" misinformed or open to accepting information that conflicts with your worldview
• Retric 6y ago
  The majority of hopeless people are a long way from retirement. Homeless, long term disability, or people living off of their parents etc. America is rich enough that bring poor represents a huge range of lifestyles from young raft guides living in leaky cabins to just about everything else.
  • mxcrossb 6y ago
    > The majority of hopeless people are a long way from retirement Source?
    • eigen 6y ago
      >> The majority of hopeless people are a long way from retirement >Source? assuming "long way from retirement" is 10+ years. Discouraged over job prospects age 24-55: 311k age 55+: 170k Discouraged workers are persons marginally attached to the labor force who did not actively look for work in the prior 4 weeks for reasons such as thinks no work available, could not find work, lacks schooling or training, employer thinks too young or old, and other types of discrimination. https://www.bls.gov/web/empsit/cpseea38.htm https://www.bls.gov/web/empsit/cpseea38.htm
      • mxcrossb 6y ago
        Thanks!
    • Kye 6y ago
      Is there a reason you didn't ask for a source on the numbers in the initial claim they responded to? The claim about seniors representing the majority contradicts my own understanding, so I would have started there.
• bumby 6y ago
  Is there any data on U4 rates based off age demographics?
• _qulr 6y ago
  > Consistency in how statistics are measured is important. You can rag on the methods but without consistency it’d be meaningless. Is it meaningless? Isn't it important to get as accurate an assessment as possible of the current situation? Arguably that's even more important than historical comparisons. > The majority of what you term as “hopeless” is seniors that are let go and eventually decide to retire rather than entering the work force at wages less than they earned previously. Is there a citation for this? Millions of people are newly out of work now as a result of pandemic-related shutdowns, so it seems highly unlikely that primarily seniors are affected by an inability to find work.
  • donw 6y ago
    Inconsistent definitions or methods render statistical comparisons meaningless. You need that historical baseline to assess the current situation. To provide an extreme example, as extremes are often useful in illustrating failure cases, it would be trivial to say that the murder rate in the US has dropped by nigh-on 100%. Simply redefine "murder" to mean "persons killed by a woman wearing a blue hat on the third Tuesday of February".
    • _qulr 6y ago
      > You need that historical baseline to assess the current situation. But what if the historical baseline has always been misleading, and undercounting a problem? > Simply redefine "murder" to mean "persons killed by a woman wearing a blue hat on the third Tuesday of February". This isn't a useful example, because the point of redefining unemployment is to get a more accurate view of it, whereas this redefinition of murder gives a less accurate and completely pointless view of the problem.
      • donw 6y ago
        > But what if the historical baseline has always been misleading, and undercounting a problem? Then you create a new metric, but keep the old one around for historical baselines. By the way, this is what the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) is doing with the various unemployment metrics. > The point of redefining unemployment is to get a more accurate view of it, whereas this redefinition of murder gives a less accurate and completely pointless view of the problem. I see you are new to politics.