The op-ed misrepresents its own opinion, I think. Their real gripe is in their belief that the average American is clueless about what goes into that ~5% unemp

The op-ed misrepresents its own opinion, I think. Their real gripe is in their belief that the average American is clueless about what goes into that ~5% unemployment stat. BLS is transparent enough to make this criticism unwarranted, but the media/press covering unemployment statistics certainly aren't careful to define the stats they use. Whether the 'sleight of hand' is intentional or not is another story (I'm inclined to say it's not, people just need a figure to benchmark to)