Robert Reich

April 9, 2021 at 1:25 am Edit

Dear Mr. Davis. You write that “it was decided by Clinton and Reich that the U-3 category would become his administration’s official unemployment rate.” That is untrue. The Bureau of Labor Statistics is a statistical agency whose independence from politics is critically important to its credibility. Neither I as secretary of labor nor President Clinton intruded on that independence. The BLS decided and continues to decide how the nation’s unemployment rate is defined, measured, and explained to the public.

I want to thank Secretary Reich and apologize to him and President Clinton for any misunderstanding of our federal statues by me, when writing this article. However, I have to ask him and others in our federal government with the understanding, that the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) oversees our unemployment data and in doing so, has to be apolitical in presenting that data, if the BLS gets complete independence in designating what category the official unemployment rate will originate, without getting any guidance or input from the President of the United States and the Secretary of Labor? After all, the head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports to the Secretary of Labor and the Secretary of Labor is appointed by the President of the United States.

In conclusion, by federal statue does the Bureau of Labor Statistics have the right to designate the category of the official unemployment rate? If this is the case, this is problematic for American workers, especially Black Americans, because the U-3 Category unduly discriminates against blacks racially.