If the workers who
were recorded
as
employed
but
absent from work
due to
“other reasons”
(over and above the number absent for other reasons in a typical May)
had been classified
as
unemployed on temporary layoff,
the overall unemployment rate
would have been
about
3 percentage points higher than reported
(on a not seasonally adjusted basis).
However,
according to usual practice,
the data from the household survey
are
accepted as recorded.
To maintain data integrity,
no ad hoc actions are taken
to reclassify survey responses.
Below is the full image of their addendum on the report “THE EMPLOYMENT SITUATION — MAY 2020,” which may be found on the BLS website as linked here.
The pertinent part is the final paragraph, which is pasted above, and appears in red.
There you have it.
The United States Bureau of Labor Statistics has OFFICIALLY STATED that the Present Unemployment Rate is THREE POINTS HIGHER than officially stated.
They noted also that in the three preceding months of March, April, and May 2020, that responses to the monthly survey were down -9.5%, -12.6%, and -15.1% correspondingly to the month, from last year for the preceding 12 months, and averaged.
Th agency noted also that “BLS and our partners at the Census Bureau take the misclassification error very seriously, and we’re taking additional steps to address the problem.”
Part of the problem, as they note, is with classification.
In a lengthy explainer, the agency wrote that, “In May, 8.4 million workers were classified as employed with a job but not at work during the survey reference week (not seasonally adjusted). Although lower than the 11.5 million not at work in April, this measure remains about twice the typical level at this time of the year. This likely reflects the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.”
Their explanation of “with a job but not at work” is apparently integrated into the idea of going to a central, or common location to work (such as at an office building, or factory site), and of that they wrote in part that, “BLS tabulates data on Read the rest of this entry »
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