#TIL that the definition of being unemployed in the States is not as straightforward as one would assume. All you have to do is work less than one hour for money in the test week. Unemployment is collected via a sample of 60,000 households via a questionnaire. Additionally one needed to look for employment in the past 4 weeks. (There are additional requirements that can be read in the references.)
I feel the data can be very easily skewed like if you didn't work at all during test week (easily calculated), but work the rest of the month. Or the other way around, that you only work that week.
It is bonkers that 1h of paid labor in the test week is sufficient enough to be considered employed.
So if the number is low in the States it could really be because of these observations. But if the number is higher than average, then it seems like the validity of the data is in question.
To see an example checkout the data once the COVID-19 pandemic started.
References:
https://www.thebalancemoney.com/what-is-unemployment-3306222
@barefootstache You're good at maths... you know how numbers don't mean anything unless those using and abusing them don't find a work around... like making a 1hr labour type clause to put a chalk mark in the 'employed' box... what a joke.. just anything goes and can be made to go in the box that is wanted...✔️ ✅ backwards design using maths accounting and whatever else people can cloak it with.