While the steady rise of the nation’s unemployment rate has become shorthand for the recession’s impact, many economists say the grim figures — 8.9 percent in April — don’t tell the whole story of Americans’ financial distress. While the plight of the jobless tends to dominate social policy conversations and media coverage, a less-exposed but equally vulnerable population is the millions of underemployed. This diffuse, often poorly tracked cross-section of citizens who bear the individual and collective challenges living on the economic fringes often go overlooked by policy makers and elected leaders.

Read more on the challenges underemployment presents in today’s economy.

underemployment, unemployment rate

Please note the quotation marks I used above… long time readers will know how a series of very well followed US reports have been “adjusted” over the years to a more positive bias. In the corporate workplace we call this “garbage in, garbage out”; in government we call it “official facts”. So the press runs with it; economists run with it - and we all smile… never questioning the situation. Well not “all” of us.

Read more on the U.S. unemployment rate surpassing Europe’s.

unemployment rate