Economist’s and politicians are celebrating! “US created 209,000 jobs in July,… and unemployment rate is down to 4.3%.” But wait! Why is the economy growing at a slow pace if the report is so good? What is going on?
The fact is that we are using anachronistic and obsolete language and data that results in poor public policy. Why? 3 reasons:
1. The Unemployment report is not a real count! Its a survey! “the government conducts a monthly survey…” Yet! So much has changed in the world – Is a survey a reliable source for conclusive data to support policy? No!
2. Hard to believe but, those who work part time are counted as employed!! That was good for a different era. Today when many are part time employees – counting them as emlpyed is misleading at best!
3. Many gave up and are no longer seeking employment — yet, the report ignores them! That is idiotic and results in false conclusions!
So, let the asinine celebration about unemployment go on. Let “experts” try to explain why the economy is not growing fast and real income is stuck as they look at an obsolete unemployment report!
As Einstein taught us: “Many of the things you can count, don’t count. Many of the things you can’t count, really count.”
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