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Unemployment in the U.S. Is Falling, So Why Isn’t Pay Rising?

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Re: Unemployment in the U.S. Is Falling, So Why Isn’t Pay Rising?

#2
Does this factor in total compensation?

Labor has been getting more expensive over time due to mandates and regulations. Additional benefits must be paid regardless of the employee's wishes, and some would probably prefer extra cash to that additional mandated perk.

Re: Unemployment in the U.S. Is Falling, So Why Isn’t Pay Rising?

#5
The rules regarding unemployment statistics are entirely designed to be favorable. Citizens who are unemployed for greater than X months (where X is a figure I don't currently recall) stop being considered unemployed for the sake of this stat.

Likewise, homeless populations are not counted. Not everyone who is homeless is necessarily unemployed, I guess, but it's patently ridiculous not to include any homeless in unemployment statistics.

Re: Unemployment in the U.S. Is Falling, So Why Isn’t Pay Rising?

#6
post #5

The rules regarding unemployment statistics are entirely designed to be favorable. Citizens who are unemployed for greater than X months (where X is a figure I don't currently recall) stop being considered unemployed for the sake of this stat. Likewise, homeless populations are not counted. Not everyone who is homeless is necessarily unemployed, I guess, but it's patently ridiculous not to include any homeless in une…

I remember hearing something on the radio years ago here in the UK that really caught my eye.

There was a government project to count the number of homeless on a particular day. When the stats came out, the number had fallen despite anybody who ever walked around a town centre knowing the numbers had gone up.

So the radio station interviewed a local outreach worker who had been tasked to get the stats in her town. She was told to only count people on public property - so, somebody sleeping on the Library steps was counted, somebody sleeping outside a supermarket was not.

Re: Unemployment in the U.S. Is Falling, So Why Isn’t Pay Rising?

#7
post #5

The rules regarding unemployment statistics are entirely designed to be favorable. Citizens who are unemployed for greater than X months (where X is a figure I don't currently recall) stop being considered unemployed for the sake of this stat. Likewise, homeless populations are not counted. Not everyone who is homeless is necessarily unemployed, I guess, but it's patently ridiculous not to include any homeless in une…

From the article, "Only 78.6 percent of people age 25-54 are employed" yet we say unemployment is at 4.4. It very much smells like unemployment, as we count it, is a bad metric and that explains what looks like a paradox in economic principles.

Re: Unemployment in the U.S. Is Falling, So Why Isn’t Pay Rising?

#9
Eight possible explanations and not a single mention of the word "deflation."

The Japanese have a long history of low unemployment and deflation working together:

http://www.tradingeconomics.com/japan/unemployment-rate

Maybe the idea that lower unemployment always leads to inflation is just wrong.

For now, wage decreases have been masked by cuts to employer-funded health insurance programs. Eventually, there will be nothing left to cut there leaving the possibility that we'll see across-the-board wage cuts.

Re: Unemployment in the U.S. Is Falling, So Why Isn’t Pay Rising?

#10
post #5

The rules regarding unemployment statistics are entirely designed to be favorable. Citizens who are unemployed for greater than X months (where X is a figure I don't currently recall) stop being considered unemployed for the sake of this stat. Likewise, homeless populations are not counted. Not everyone who is homeless is necessarily unemployed, I guess, but it's patently ridiculous not to include any homeless in une…

Yeah, I hate how the unemployment number is always so lazily used by media outlets. In contrast the employment rate (60.2%) is currently lower than it was from 1986 until 2008.
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