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Unemployment Rate

unemploymentrate

There has been a concerted effort on behalf of Republicans and Democrats to create the illusion of "low unemployment". This usually works in a good economy since few people pay any attention to it during good times.

But with the economy in bad shape now in its second decade over the Bush years (Republican) and Obama years (Democrat), people are rightly skeptical when the government says unemployment is in the single digits. Unemployment has dropped because people have stopped looking for work because there are no jobs as a direct result of the administration's economic policies.

LISEP has been tracking unemployment in the U.S. for decades at LISEP and has become an expert in government economic reporting. The quality of government reporting has deteriorated sharply in the last couple of decades. A lot of that is on purpose by the administration in power.

Much of the tinkering with the unemployment rate numbers began in the Clinton administration, and continues with subsequent administrations today. Here is the modeled difference between the BLS U-3, U-6, and LISEP unemployment rates.

During the Bush and Obama years, the U.S. has been in the Great Depression range of unemployment
numbers as shown here.

 

Unemployment Scorecard:

 
Month / Year
BLS
U-3
LISEP Not In
Labor Force
Labor Force
Participation Rate
 
October-2024
4.1%
23.9%
100,809,000
62.6%
 
September-2024
4.1%
23.9%
100,381,000
62.7%
 
August-2024
4.2%
24.4%
100,306,000
62.7%
 
July-2024
4.3%
24.6%
100,215,000
62.7%
 
June-2024
4.1%
24.6%
100,249,000
62.6%
 
May-2024
4.0%
24.7%
100,516,000
62.5%
 
April-2024
3.9%
24.2%
100,083,000
62.7%
 
March-2024
3.8%
24.2%
99,989,000
62.7%
 
February-2024
3.9%
24.9%
100,285,000
62.5%
 
January-2024
3.7%
23.3%
100,265,000
62.5%
 
December-2023
3.7%
22.9%
100,540,000
62.5%
 
November-2023
3.7%
22.7%
99,562,000
62.8%
 

   


 
Previous Years




  January-2024 3.7% 23.3% 100,265,000 62.5%
 
January-2023
3.4%
23.1%
100,130,000
62.4%
 
January-2022
4.0%
22.5%
99,516,000
62.2%
 
January-2021
6.3%
26.0%
100,690,000
61.4%
 
January-2020
3.6%
24.1%
94,896,000
63.4%
 
January-2019
4.0%
24.1%
95,010,000
63.2%
 
January-2018
4.1%
25.1%
95,665,000
62.7%
 
January-2017
4.8%
26.2%
94,366,000
62.9%
 
January-2016
4.9%
27.1%
94,062,000
62.7%
 
January-2015
5.7%
28.5%
92,544,000
62.9%
 
January-2014
6.6%
30.1%
91,429,000
62.9%
 
January-2013
7.9%
31.4%
88,838,000
63.6%
 
January-2012
8.8%
31.5%
87,824,000
63.7%
 
January-2011
9.1%
32.3%
85,390,000
64.2%
 
January-2010
9.8%
33.2%
83,349,000
64.8%
 
January-2009
8.3%
30.3%
80,374,000
65.8%
 



   

 

 

The Presidential Scorecard©:

PRESIDENT YEARS
JOBS
LOST
NET
JOBS
AVERAGE LABOR PARTICIPATION RATE NOT IN LABOR
FORCE AT END
OF TERM
TRUMAN 1949 - 1952
8,357,000
-3,222,000
5,135,000
4.4%
   
EISENHOWER 1953 - 1960
10,142,000
-6,562,000
3,580,000
4.9%
   
KENNEDY / JOHNSON 1960 - 1964
6,067,000
-390,000
5,677,000
5.8%
   
JOHNSON 1965 - 1968
9,983,000
-158,000
9,825,000
3.9%
   
NIXON 1969 - 1972
7,404,000
-1,380,000
6,024,000
5.0%
   
NIXON / FORD 1973 - 1976
7,473,000
-2,295,000
5,178,000
6.7%
   
CARTER 1977 - 1980
11,714,000
-1,219,000
10,495,000
6.5%
63.2%
61,531,000
REAGAN 1981 - 1988
19,273,000
-3,310,000
15,963,000
7.5%
64.7%
62,780,000
G.H.W. BUSH 1989 - 1992
4,372,000
-1,782,000
2,590,000
6.3%
66.4%
65,780,000
CLINTON 1993 - 2000
23,420,000
-185,000
23,235,000
5.2%
66.8%
70,488,000
G.W. BUSH 2001 - 2008
8,702,000
-6,589,000
2,113,000
5.3%
66.2%
80,380,000
OBAMA 2009 - 2015
(so far)
13,730,000
-5,428,000
8,302,000
7.8%
63.8%
94,103,000

Note:
data through Dec-2015
         

 

 

 

JobCreationByPresident

 

 

AvgU-3

 

 

 

NotInLaborForce

 

 

Resources:

Real Jobs Numbers Are Far Worse Than Official Numbers Suggest" (unemployment rate of 31% with 47.9 million Americans unemployed out of a workforce of 154 million people)

Unemployment Report Shows Labor Force Drop Outs At Record High (93.175 Million People)

Americans Not In Labor Force Soars To Record 93.2 Million As Participation Rate Drops To 1978 Levels

Another 640,000 Drop Out of Labor Force Causing Unemployment Rate Decline

July 2015: The jobs report for July showed 215,000 jobs created; but it didn't (as usual) mention another 144,000 who dropped out of the labor force from the previous month — which is at another all-time record high — 93.7 million 

The Presidential Scorecard©: Truman to Obama

A Critical Eye on Obama's Jobs and Unemployment Record

The Presidential Scorecard©: GDP (Gross Domestic Product) and Total Employment

The Presidential Scorecard©: Job Creation, Unemployment, Not in Labor Force, GDP

How Many Jobs Are Needed To Keep Up With Population Growth?

Atlanta Fed's Interactive Jobs Calculator For Number of Monthly Jobs Needed For Population Growth

U.S. Census Bureau Population Clock