(ThyBlackMan.com) The racism surrounding the undercounting of unemployed American workers by the Biden-Harris administration through the use of Biden’s monthly official unemployment rate, published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) is extremely bad and deserves to be exposed. The monthly official job rate published by the administration, and republished by national and local news outlets, gives the appearance, the U-3 category rate of “Alternative Measures of Labor Underutilization,” ( https://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.t15.htm ) is the most comprehensive measurement of the nation’s unemployment situation.
It is not and was never intended to be as decided by economists, who looked at this scheme 28 years ago, when it was first hatched during the Clinton administration in 1994, when Dr. Robert Reich was the Secretary of Labor. The in-house economists at the BLS, said clearly at the time, the U-6 category rate was the most comprehensive measurement of our monthly unemployment situation.
Nevertheless, the nation’s work force, all working-class Americans, their families, including women who work and are heads of households with children suffer economically, with an entire race of people, more pointedly the African American race as a result of the U-3 category usage by President Biden, as our monthly official unemployment rate, because it undercounts the actual and real number of laid-off workers. No one has come forth and said specifically, how the U-3 category rate of unemployment got to be the Clinton administration’s official unemployment rate, but it did. And it has been used by every presidential administration, including Republicans, since 1994, as their official unemployment rate.
By using the U-3 category rate of unemployment, Mr. Biden undercounts, or you could say low balls the number of all American workers who are laid-off. It helps him personally because his platform, or his loudspeaker as president is used to give voters the feeling, the nation is doing better than it is. Biden’s use of the March U-3 job rate of 3.6% misleads all of us. It gives the impression we have a better economy than what is factually true. This maneuver also hides the fact Black American workers are in a perpetual recession.
The black rate which is usually 5%-6% higher than the real unemployment rate, which in March, was 6.9%, according to U-6, is 12.9%. The 12.9% rate squarely places Black American workers in a Great Recession. This amounts to de facto racism. De facto racism is defined by Merriam-Webster dictionary as racism being in effect, but not formally recognized. Biden’s undercounting the unemployed, using his 3.6% jobless rate, is in effect just that, because it hides the fact or doesn’t formally recognize Black Americans are in a perpetual recession without remedy.
The Black American situation is without remedy because that which is never publicly revealed, the recession era unemployment rate of 12.9% experienced by Black Americans, is never properly funded, or even politically addressed for consideration of funding. And that which is never properly funded never gets the benefit of a solution. When the U-3 unemployment rate, however, reached 10% during the Obama administration, the nation declared that event as a Great Recession, and every effort was made to bring that rate down.
However, the answer to the above question should not just be of interest to the black community but to the community at large. Why? Well, the nation is headed toward its third Recession in 14 years, as the Federal Reserve raises interest rates to fight inflation. While it is true the black unemployment rate will begin its rise from 12.9% as the higher interest rates begin to bite and take their toll, the REAL UNEMPLOYMENT RATE will also begin its rise from 6.9%, affecting the white population, as well. Blacks are the first laid-off, as the economy slows, due to the increase in the price of money, but eventually the wave of layoffs will arrive at the shores of the white population. The impact will be more pronounced because of their much larger numbers.
The way to improve the livelihoods of working-class families in America is to add clarity, when it comes to our jobless rates, as higher interest rates, used to quell inflation, tend to cause RECESSIONS and layoffs. Facing our third recession in 14 years, the nation has a right to the truth, when it comes to our unemployment rates and situation. It is germane to growing a healthy economy.
Our Federal Reserve, our central bank, has two mandates, maximum employment, and price stability, as it conducts monetary policy on the nation’s behalf. Considerably more workers will be laid off than what the administration is projecting, and the Biden-Harris White House isn’t technically planning for that event, in their budget, because of their current policy of undercounting laid-off working-class Americans.
Staff Writer; James Davis
Mr. Davis is a leading expert and consultant in Financial Analysis and Social Dynamics. He is a graduate of Florida A. and M. University (FAMU), a former stockbroker, and a human rights activist who resides in Sanford, Florida. He was awarded the prestigious Governor Haydon Burns Scholarship to attend FAMU and while at FAMU was awarded the first Martin Luther King Scholarship. He is the author of three books, among them is “The Fix This Time,” Boost Your Retirement Income! Simultaneously Create Jobs and Spur Economic Growth (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00MI3PD2M).
Mr. Davis can be reached through his blog @ https://thefixthistime.com.
