Who is counted in Unemployment stats?

[LateComer]

I just saw a report on CNN showing that unemployment is still steady, and it brought up an interesting thought:

Just who is counted in the Unemployment figures? Obviously, people who are collecting Unemployment. What about those who are still unemployed when the money runs out? People on Welfare? Housewives (I don’t think so . . .)? Perhaps a better question would be “Who is NOT counted in the Unemployment numbers?”

The older I get, the more I seem to believe that more statistics are built through Voodoo than from actual numbers.

Thanks.

[Diceman]

The older I get, the more I seem to believe that more statistics are built through Voodoo than from actual numbers.

You’re beginning to undertand statistics. Congratulations!

[barker]

For a quick answer from BLS:

Persons also are counted as employed if they have a job at which they did not work during the survey week because they were:
On vacation;
Ill;
Experiencing child-care problems;
Taking care of some other family or personal obligation;
On maternity or paternity leave;
Involved in an industrial dispute; or
Prevented from working by bad weather.

These persons are counted among the employed and tabulated separately as “with a job but not at work,” because they have a specific job to which they will return.

For a FAQ from BLS please see: http://stats.bls.gov/cps_faq.htm#Ques5

Answers alot of questions. (This still does not mean that the data is reliable)