[IP] jobless rate underreported by us dept of labor
Begin forwarded message:
From: Charles Jarrell <bellmac@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: May 28, 2004 4:45:27 PM EDT
To: dave@xxxxxxxxxx
Subject: jobless rate underreported by us dept of labor
http://www.herald-dispatch.com/2004/May/28/LNspot.htm
is this happening throughout the country? Perhaps this is another thing
the Bush Administration is lieing to the public about.
Officials dispute jobless figures
Survey shows problem is three times worse than Dept. of Labor reports
By DAVID E. MALLOY - The Herald-Dispatch
IRONTON -- A local survey of Lawrence County’s unemployment rate shows
unemployment is three times worse than is being reported by the U.S.
Department of Labor.
During the past several months, the official unemployment numbers for
Lawrence County were 6 percent or less. In April, the number was 5.7
percent. Those numbers caused officials to do their own survey last
month, which estimated the real number was at 17.9 percent. The survey
has an error rate of plus or minus 4 percent.
The lower rate caused the Appalachian Regional Commission to remove the
county from the distressed county list. The redesignation means the
county won’t be eligible to apply for certain ARC grant funds starting
Oct. 1 and the commission funds the county can apply for carry a higher
required matching percentage, 50 percent instead of 20 percent, said
Buddy Martin, director of the county’s Department of Job and Family
Services.
"We didn’t dream it would come out this high," Martin said during a
Lawrence County Board of Commissioners meeting Thursday at the county
courthouse. If he had to guess, he would have thought the rate would be
between 8 and 10 percent, higher than the official numbers, but still
below the totals from the local survey.
"It’s a frightening number," said Bill Jett, an official with the
Workforce Development Resource Center in Ironton. He was referring to
those who reported working fewer than 20 hours a week or earning less
than $7.33 per hour.
"Some of them have just quit looking (for work)," Jett said. "They just
can’t find work to fit their skills."
The study found that 10.4 percent of those questioned in a random
survey aren’t even looking for work, he said.
<snip>
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