Re Feb. 4 AP article, “Unemployment dips to 8.3 percent”: While President Obama was patting himself on the back for the recently announced unemployment rate of 8.3 percent, he also cautioned this number may raise in the coming months. He knows what many people don’t know. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, during the month of January, 2.8 million people who are unemployed were classified by the government as “marginally attached to the labor force.” This meant “they were not counted as unemployed because they had not searched for work in the four weeks preceding the survey.” If added to the January calculation, that 8.3 percent instead would be a double-digit unemployment rate. I’m sure some people in Washington are hoping these unemployed people, for whatever reason, stay out of the workforce, at least till the end of October. It sure makes the numbers look good.
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