So for those of you that either don’t do research, or just don’t care, the unemployment rate that the news gives us is called U3, which consists of those people who are on unemployment.  This does not include those who have run out of unemployment benefits but are still unemployed, or those who are working part time due to the economic downturn.  The U6 version of the unemployment covers ALL of these demographics.  Back when the U3 unemployment was at 9.0, U6 was at 16.2. When U3 was at 8.6, U6 was at 15.6.  Now that the media is telling us that the U3 unemployment rate is 6.7 we must realize that the real unemployment rate is in fact U6 13.1.

While the media will tell you that the drop in unemployment is due to an increase in jobs, this is only a half truth.  Many of the jobs that were once a part of the United States have now been outsourced to other countries (meaning they’re not here anymore).  This decreases the size of the United States’ economy and makes available jobs more scarce.

Finally, let us not forget that a whopping 92 million workers have left the US labor force, a number not seen since 1979 and the days of the miserable Carter administration. While certain politicians and media (including Fox News) would like you to believe that the economy has gotten better, the facts prove that it is actually getting worse.