US Unemployment Rate Falls in January: experts say figures flawed
US employers reduced their payrolls by 20,000 during January, a government report showed, generating fresh anxiety about a labor market that has yet tocatch upwith growth in the overall economy. The reduction was slightly worse than the 15,000 jobs economists were expecting. The nation's unemployment rate -- the result of a separate but simultaneously released survey of households -- dropped to 9.7 percent from the 10-percent level of a month ago, according to the U.S. Labor Department.
Despite the mixed numbers, a growing chorus of economists and labor market analysts say the unemployment picture in the United States is actually far worse. They argue that the Labor Department routinely undercounts the number of unemployed in this country, adding fuel to a simmering debate on whether the government is providing an accurate snapshot of the nation's unemployment picture.
Despite the mixed numbers, a growing chorus of economists and labor market analysts say the unemployment picture in the United States is actually far worse. They argue that the Labor Department routinely undercounts the number of unemployed in this country, adding fuel to a simmering debate on whether the government is providing an accurate snapshot of the nation's unemployment picture.
"Our gripe about the numbers is that it leaves out broad swaths of unemployed people in the country," said Madeline Schnapp, director of macroeconomic research at TrimTabs, a Sausalito, Calif.-based investment research firm. Like other economic observers, Schnapp argued that the Labor Department's methodology is flawed because it's based on surveys and polling and ignores "the real-time data available via analysis of withheld income and employment taxes."
For more: Unemployment Rate Drops: Jobless Rate Down - ABC NewsLabels: US Economy
