# When does it become an economic depression?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-does-it-become-an-economic-depression/483224>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [January 27, 2009, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-does-it-become-an-economic-depression/483224 "2009-01-27T14:01:08Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\
**Post date:** [January 28, 2009, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-does-it-become-an-economic-depression/483224/21 "2009-01-28T18:52:58Z")

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> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#):
>
> Prior to the Great Depression, depression and recession were used interchangeably, and depression was in fact the more common term.

I need a cite on this.

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**Author:** ![dre2xl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/34f0e0/32.png) [@dre2xl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dre2xl)\
**Post date:** [January 28, 2009, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-does-it-become-an-economic-depression/483224/22 "2009-01-28T19:28:45Z")

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> [@Beware\_of\_Doug](#):
>
> IIRC, one survey in 1932-33 (unscientific, the only kind there were then) said 59% of those employed were on some kind of short time. That left only 16% of the workforce - \*less than one person in six \*- employed full-time, presumably at greatly reduced pay.

That does prompt the question of how this compared to before the Great Depression, though. Agricultural, construction, and other unskilled jobs are very seasonal.

> [@](#):
>
> There’s also a school of thought that says “if we calculated unemployment now as we did in 1933, the rate would be about double.” FWTW; is that worth looking into, or can it be easily pulled apart?

That is certainly an oft-repeated meme among the bears, but I haven’t found any cites on it. We started keeping track of discouraged workers (e.g., those not seeking a job) in 1994. But there doesn’t seem to be any great decline in unemployment, which makes me think we’ve always defined unemployment as people searching for a job and doesn’t have one: [http://www.bls.gov/webapps/legacy/cpsatab12.htm](http://www.bls.gov/webapps/legacy/cpsatab12.htm)

Official unemployment statistics were 7.3% in Jan 1993, 6.5% in Dec 2003, and 6.6% in Jan 2004.

The unemployed + discouraged workers were 8.1% in Jan 1994, unemployed + discouraged + part-time workers were 11.8% in Jan 1994.

Given the smooth and consistent official unemployment rate over the time period that we began measuring discouraged/underemployed/part-time workers, and absence of any hard cites to the contrary, I think it’s much more likely that the BLS has been measuring unemployment consistently all along.

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