The Real Unemployment Number: 17.5%

More than one in every six U.S. workers are either unemployed or underemployed, a statistic arguably more significant than the 10.2 percent jobless rate posted in October, as it factors in those who have quit looking, as well as part-time workers desiring full-time gigs. — JCL

The New York Times:

For all the pain caused by the Great Recession, the job market still was not in as bad shape as it had been during the depths of the early 1980s recession — until now.

With the release of the jobs report on Friday, the broadest measure of unemployment and underemployment tracked by the Labor Department has reached its highest level in decades. If statistics went back so far, the measure would almost certainly be at its highest level since the Great Depression.

In all, more than one out of every six workers — 17.5 percent — were unemployed or underemployed in October. The previous recorded high was 17.1 percent, in December 1982.

This includes the officially unemployed, who have looked for work in the last four weeks. It also includes discouraged workers, who have looked in the past year, as well as millions of part-time workers who want to be working full time.

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