This Is a Congressional Joke
links for 2009-12-11

The Real Unemployment Rate...

The real unemployment rate--the share of Americans who say that they are actively looking for work and don't have jobs--has been drifting down since late spring--from 9.7% in June to 9.4% in November. The seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate over that same period has risen from 9.5% to 10.0%, as the actual unemployment rate has drifted down much more slowly than it usually drifts down from June to November as things pile up for the Christmas rush.

Economagic: Economic Chart Dispenser

Starting now the seasonal adjustment factors reverse themselves. American unemployment not seasonally adjusted is going to rise by about one full percentage point between mid November and mid January. It will be harder to find a job in a month than it was a month ago, whatever the seasonally-adjusted figures say.

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