Jobless Rate Drops--What does it mean?

http://www.dailyfinance.com/2009/08/07/job-losses-slow-in-july-unemployment-falls-to-9-4-percent/

The official government unemployment figure dropped from 9.6% to 9.4%.

In spite of this, most sectors of the economy shed more jobs.

"However, nearly every sector shed jobs. Manufacturing lost 52,000 jobs, services lost 119,000 jobs, retail lost 44,000 jobs, and transportation shed 22,000 jobs."

Only health care and government were hiring, it seems. So government got bigger, and people got sicker. That's great news for the economy, but it takes a college education or a government position to understand that fact.

"Further, an alternate unemployment gauge, which includes workers who can find only part-time work and discouraged workers, fell to 16.3 percent in July from 16.7 percent in June."

This alternate way of figuring unemployment includes "discouraged workers," people who simply cannot find work by the time their unemployment checks run out. Once their checks run out, the government drops them from their unemployment figures, because it considers them unemployable or unemployed by choice--hence, not technically "unemployed."

But it sounds better to say that unemployment stands at 9.4%, rather than 16.3%, doesn't it? This is how government officials play with figures in order to make things look better than they really are. The media winks at it, reports it occasionally, but they don't argue with the government or take it to task. That's because the government blackmails them into submission. If any reporter gets out of line, they won't be allowed to attend the White House press conferences. "Press passes" are licenses to attend White House press conferences, and these licenses can be removed for any reason at all.

Besides, you can never trust the first unemployment figures to hit the news. They are only underestimates, and they are "revised" later with much less fanfare. Nearly every month the figures have to be revised upward. One would think that half the time they would overestimate the unemployment rate. But they are not being honest. So you have to take honesty into your own hands.