...Which is exactly why you should do a little homework before regurgitating statistics you've heard on Fox.
http://www.bls.gov/lau/stalt.htm
The six state measures are based on the same definitions as those published for the U.S.:
U-1, persons unemployed 15 weeks or longer, as a percent of the civilian labor force;
U-2, job losers and persons who completed temporary jobs, as a percent of the civilian labor force;
U-3, total unemployed, as a percent of the civilian labor force (this is the definition used for the official unemployment rate);
U-4, total unemployed plus discouraged workers, as a percent of the civilian labor force plus discouraged workers;
U-5, total unemployed, plus discouraged workers, plus all other marginally attached workers, as a percent of the civilian labor force plus all marginally attached workers; and
U-6, total unemployed, plus all marginally attached workers, plus total employed part time for economic reasons, as a percent of the civilian labor force plus all marginally attached workers.
Definitions for the economic characteristics underlying the three broader measures of labor underutilization are worth mentioning here. Discouraged workers (U-4, U-5, and U-6 measures) are persons who are not in the labor force, want and are available for work, and had looked for a job sometime in the prior 12 months. They are not counted as unemployed because they had not searched for work in the prior 4 weeks, for the specific reason that they believed no jobs were available for them.
The marginally attached (U-5 and U-6 measures) are a group that includes discouraged workers. The criteria for the marginally attached are the same as for discouraged workers, with the exception that any reason could have been cited for the lack of job search in the prior 4 weeks. Persons employed part time for economic reasons (U-6 measure) are those working less than 35 hours per week who want to work full time, are available to do so, and gave an economic reason (their hours had been cut back or they were unable to find a full-time job) for working part time. These individuals are sometimes referred to as involuntary part-time workers
THE EMPLOYMENT SITUATION -- FEBRUARY 2011
Nonfarm payroll employment increased by 192,000 in February, and the unemployment rate was little changed at
8.9 percent
http://www.bls.gov/cps/tables.htm
Or you can see the table for yourself:
http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.t15.htm
THE EMPLOYMENT SITUATION: MARCH 2007
Nonfarm payroll employment rose by 180,000 in March, and the unemployment
rate was essentially unchanged at
4.4 percent, the Bureau of Labor Statistics
of the U.S. Department of Labor reported today.
That is the U-3, or "official unemployemnt rate"
As demonstrated here
http://www.bls.gov/news.release/history/empsit_04062007.txt in Table A-12, the
U-6 unemployment rate for the same time was 8.3.
So your statement "Bush....unemployment 4.9%
bho......unemployment 16% and climbing" is skewed and demonstrates your own lack of education on the matter.
Now I'll give you that it was 1/2 what it is today, no matter how it's measured (rather than 1/4 that you reported) but if your genius president hadn't sunk our money into war with Iraq (and killed so many of our troops as well) we would be in a much better position today, President Obama or not.
Proof that Dubble-ya is an idiot:
[video=youtube;cMy_7jLAok8]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cMy_7jLAok8[/video]
