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So I don't have any specific knowledge on this, but the intuitive answer is a combination of: a) The Department of Labor puts out these measures in a boring, d
by jhaile 12y ago
So I don't have any specific knowledge on this, but the intuitive answer is a combination of:
a) The Department of Labor puts out these measures in a boring, dry document. The news media then picks which measures to report on that will grab headlines.
b) Politicians and public officials latch onto the numbers that allow them to paint government and policies in the best (or worst) possible light.
Both of these lead to simplification of the source data. And if you are trying to paint it positively, you'd probably pick the narrowest, lowest unemployment number.
- sanderjd 12y agoNot necessarily disagreeing with your intuition here, but that doesn't appear to be what happens - pretty much everybody reports on that same U3 measure. Certainly there are articles and discussions about other measures as well (for instance, the OP), but I never seem to see them in the "mainstream".