# 25% Unemployment during Great Depression: How was workforce defined? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 6, 2008, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/25-unemployment-during-great-depression-how-was-workforce-defined/476006 "2008-12-06T16:13:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freddy_the_Pig)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2008, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/25-unemployment-during-great-depression-how-was-workforce-defined/476006/21 "2008-12-08T15:33:05Z")
First, note that the Bureau of Labor Statistics didn’t begin calculating and publishing a monthly unemployment rate until January 1948. Unemployment during the Great Depression has been _estimated_ after the fact by economists and historians, but there is a certain imprecision. In making these estimates, yes, historians try to use the same definition that the BLS uses today. Unemployment, then and now, is defined as _nonfarm_ unemployment–the percentage of people _seeking non-agricultural work_ (whether male or female) who are unable to find work. It’s true that a high unemployment rate, in one sense, was “not as bad” during the Depression because the nonfarm labor force represented a smaller percentage of the population. On the other hand, it was a crappy time for a lot of farmers, too, what with low prices and the Dust Bowl and all that. So the overall level of misery was pretty high. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2008, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/25-unemployment-during-great-depression-how-was-workforce-defined/476006/22 "2008-12-08T16:03:20Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > That’s not to say it isn’t bad, but when I see thousands of displaced families wandering the countryside and hobos living in Hoovertowns in Central Park, then we can start making comparisons to the Great Depression. Nobody in this thread is saying we’re in another Great Depression. (Yet.) The question on the table is whether 25% unemployment is the true mark of such a depression, or whether (with our _current_ economic structure) we’ll be there long before we hit 25%. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2008, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/25-unemployment-during-great-depression-how-was-workforce-defined/476006/23 "2008-12-08T16:34:03Z")
(And by the way **msmith537** , the economy in the 30s didn’t bottom out until 1933 – almost four years after the stock market crash. We may still be in the very early stages of the current crisis.) ---
**Author:** ![puddleglum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puddleglum/32/137_2.png) [@puddleglum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puddleglum)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2008, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/25-unemployment-during-great-depression-how-was-workforce-defined/476006/24 "2008-12-08T19:16:02Z")
According to wikipedia the labor force participation in 2006 was 66%. The earliest year of the statistic was recorded in 1946 was 59%. In 1932 it was probably a little less than that. The work force today is about 200 million people, and in 1932 72.5 million people. So 18.125 million people were unemployed and 54 million people were working. Today about 15 million people are unemployed and 285 million people are working. ---
**Author:** ![Invisible\_Chimp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/f05b48/32.png) [@Invisible\_Chimp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Invisible_Chimp)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2008, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/25-unemployment-during-great-depression-how-was-workforce-defined/476006/25 "2008-12-08T19:56:57Z")
There are [alternative](http://www.qualityinfo.org/olmisj/ArticleReader?itemid=00000486) ways of calculating unemployment. We usually mean u3, but iirc, u6 is currently 12%. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2008, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/25-unemployment-during-great-depression-how-was-workforce-defined/476006/26 "2008-12-09T04:15:45Z")
> [@puddleglum](#): > > According to wikipedia the labor force participation in 2006 was 66%. The earliest year of the statistic was recorded in 1946 was 59%. In 1932 it was probably a little less than that. The work force today is about 200 million people, and in 1932 72.5 million people. So 18.125 million people were unemployed and 54 million people were working. Today about 15 million people are unemployed and 285 million people are working. 😕 Might want to re-check your math, **pg**. ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2008, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/25-unemployment-during-great-depression-how-was-workforce-defined/476006/27 "2008-12-09T04:54:34Z")
To follow on what Ataraxy said (post 25), over the last 30 years the US government has repeatedly changed which figure is reported as “the unemployment rate” to make it look like unemployment hasn’t been going up. The 25% in the 1930’s almost certainly counted “discouraged workers.” The official rate today does not. It used to be a truism that (iirc) 5% unemployment was full employment. Recently, we had official rates lower than that, because of using a cooked number. Really, employment was dropping/unemployment was rising, but the government ordered the BLS to hide it. (Both parties, too!) ---
**Author:** ![OffByOne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/45deac/32.png) [@OffByOne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OffByOne)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2008, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/25-unemployment-during-great-depression-how-was-workforce-defined/476006/28 "2008-12-09T22:40:26Z")
Not only do they not count “discouraged” workers, they don’t count some that are actively seeking employment. When your unemployment benefits run out (26 weeks in Texas), you are no longer counted as unemployed. I think it was Harry S Truman who said, “There are three kinds of lies: Lies, damn lies, and statistics.” ---
**Author:** ![Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freddy_the_Pig)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2008, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/25-unemployment-during-great-depression-how-was-workforce-defined/476006/29 "2008-12-09T22:48:00Z")
> [@OffByOne](#): > > When your unemployment benefits run out (26 weeks in Texas), you are no longer counted as unemployed. Absolutely false. ---
**Author:** ![schindler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ba9def/32.png) [@schindler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/schindler)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2008, 7:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/25-unemployment-during-great-depression-how-was-workforce-defined/476006/30 "2008-12-15T07:23:09Z")
> [@OffByOne](#): > > Not only do they not count “discouraged” workers, they don’t count some that are actively seeking employment. > > When your unemployment benefits run out (26 weeks in Texas), you are no longer counted as unemployed. > > I think it was Harry S Truman who said, “There are three kinds of lies: Lies, damn lies, and statistics.” I think it was Mark Twain. anyone know a good quote about misattributing quotes? I also heard Benjamin Disraeli, for what it’s worth, so it might be one of those “origins uncertain” ones ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2008, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/25-unemployment-during-great-depression-how-was-workforce-defined/476006/31 "2008-12-15T16:34:08Z")
I recall from talking to my late Grandfather, that by about 1935, there were a lot of people who had given up looking for work. many of these guys did day labor and moved in with relatives. I see this today-a laid off stockbrokers (single) moves into parent’s home, and survives doing odd jobs. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/25-unemployment-during-great-depression-how-was-workforce-defined/476006.md?page=1)