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Notice tnat the labor lorce dropped by more than 600, and the unemployed dropped by 304. What happened to the 304 who were unemployed in 1992, but weren’t listed as unemployed in May 1993? According to the VEC, they have stopped looking for work. They have retired, or otherwise removed themselves from the work force. Many of them would work if they could, but they have given up the search. These are the hidden unemployed.
In the words of the VEC, these are the “discouraged” unemployed. Because they are no longer actively seeking work, they are removed from the unemployment statistics, and the official unemployment rate improves.
In addition, many people have taken jobs that pay less than previous positions because that is all that is available. These folks are the underemployed.
Mr. Hale-Cooper admits that the system is imperfect, but said that benchmarking a few months later leads to an accurate count. The figures tell us “the relative availably of workers,” he said.
Many of us would disagree. Most of us know of family members or friends who want to work but can’t find jobs. Most of us know people who lost their job, couldn’t find comparable work, and are now working for less money than they earned before. The statistics don’t count the discouraged, the hidden unemployed and the underemployed. Things are a lot worse than the statistics indicate.
Don’t blame Mr. Hale-Cooper. He’s doing the best he can to help people find jobs and lower these numbers.
How much faith can we put in these figures? “Not much,” seems to be the the answer. And Rappahannock County is one small part of a huge country. If our figures are off, so is the rest of the country. Just how bad is unemployment, anyway?
96.1%