October 07, 2004
Jobs Report
Look out for the jobs report due on Friday. Advance rumors are that it will be heavily politicized in favor of Bush.For accurate results, the numbers we'll really want to see are the seasonally adjusted U-6 numbers. It includes people who are out of work and are too discouraged to keep working, and people who want full time work but are forced to only work part time.
Here is a link on how to find it. Bush's administration started at 7.3%. It's currently at 9.5%.
This is the style of unemployment reporting that was used during the early part of the Reagan administration, before they changed it to report numbers that sounded better (the U-3, currently at 5.4%).
But even this won't solve the problem of invented numbers. Partisan groups will be reporting the numbers, and they're liable to be as wrong as Cheney's many falsehoods during the debate. Dig deep.