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Broader U-6 Unemployment Rate Rises to 16.9%

Posted Apr 2nd 2010 4:30PM by Connie Madon

The Labor Department issued its monthly unemployment for March. The numbers were upbeat. The unemployment rate held steady at 9.7% and 162,000 hew jobs were created. This is the official number and is labeled the U-3 unemployment report. The U-3 category includes people who are without jobs and who are available for work. Wonderful isn't it? Maybe not.

Let's dig a bit deeper into the darker side of the unemployment numbers. What is rarely published are the unemployment numbers under the category labeled U-6. Most people have never heard of the U-6 category because it is rarely cited in headline news.

What is U-6? This category includes everyone in the official rate plus "marginally attached workers" -- those who are neither working nor looking for work, but say they want a job and have looked for work recently. It also includes part time workers who took part time work because they couldn't find full time jobs.

The U-6 data may shock you. It shows that unemployment actually rose 0.1% to 16.9% in March. The highest number was 17.4% in October.

Oh no! More bad news for the Obama Fainters:

Initial jobless claims increase unexpectedly

By CHRISTOPHER S. RUGABER, AP Economics Writer 1 hr 26 mins ago
WASHINGTON – The number of newly laid-off workers seeking unemployment benefits rose last week, a sign that jobs remain scarce even as the economy recovers.
The Labor Department said Thursday that first-time claims increased by 18,000 in the week ending April 3, to a seasonally adjusted 460,000. That's worse than economists' estimates of a drop to 435,000, according to a survey by Thomson Reuters.
The report covers the week that includes the Easter holiday, and a Labor Department analyst said seasonal adjustment for Easter can be difficult since the holiday occurs in different weeks each year.
California also closed its state offices for a holiday March 31, the analyst said, which likely held down the claims figures. On an unadjusted basis, claims rose by 6,500 to nearly 415,000.
Economists closely watch unemployment claims, which are seen as a gauge of layoffs and a measure of companies' willingness to hire new workers.
The four week average, which smoothes volatility, rose to 450,250. Two weeks ago, the average fell to its lowest level since September 2008, when Lehman Brothers collapsed and the financial crisis intensified.
Jobless claims peaked during the recession at 651,000 in late March 2009.
The figures underscore that the job market remains weak even as the economy recovers. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said Wednesday that high unemployment is one of the toughest challenges the economy faces.
While layoffs have slowed, hiring is "very weak," he said. "We are far from being out of the woods. Many Americans are still grappling with unemployment or foreclosure or both."