(ThyBlackMan.com) As we looked at the record crowds Vice President Kamala Harris drew, as she crisscrossed the United States, as we observed the enthusiasm of voters, many of us believed Vice President Kamala Harris would bring transformational economic change for American workers, but based on her economic speech, she has decided to embrace the same vile policy of undercounting the unemployment rates of American workers, as President Joe Biden does, which hurts the coalition of voters that support the Democratic Party.
Voters who support the Democratic Party are learning the leadership of the Democratic Party, has officially adopted a policy of undercounting, underreporting or understating our unemployment rates, which naturally leads to undercounting, underreporting, or understating the number of our layoffs. There was no official meeting where a vote was taken, and members of the party had an opportunity to voice their opinion on whether the party should adopt such a policy as this. So, how do we know they have adopted this position? Every month, since 1994, the year the Democratic Party adopted this policy, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reports to us, the nation, our official unemployment rate, as being the U-3 category rate of unemployment from the Chart of Alternative Labor Underutilization.
The U-3 category rate chosen by the Democratic Party is not only the official rate, but the leadership of the party goes a step further and promotes the U-3 category rate as being comprehensive of our monthly Unemployment Situation, which is just not true. That rate for July was 4.3%. Nevertheless, the most comprehensive rate, as established by economists in 1994, when our unemployment rates were adjusted, is the U-6 category rate of unemployment. The U-6 category rate is almost two times that of the U-3 rate and for July that rate is 7.8%. The real African American unemployment rate which averages 2.7% higher than the real rate is 10.5% for July placing African Americans, as a worker group in a Great Recession.
The Democratic Party did not need the approval of Congress, to adopt the policy of undercounting our unemployment rates, as the Department of Labor, where the BLS is a bureau or sub-agency within that department, is managed by the executive branch of the federal government and the Department of Labor falls under the jurisdiction of the President of the United States to manage. Bill Clinton was President at the time when these changes to our unemployment rates were done and he denies through his Secretary of Labor any involvement in usurping the conclusions of economists, who established the most comprehensive rate of unemployment, as being the U-6 category rate. Here is that denial, sent to my blog.
“Dear Mr. Davis.
You write that “it was decided by Clinton and Reich that the U-3 category rate 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.”
Research indicates, economists from the Bureau of Labor Statistics did not intend for the U-3 unemployment rate to be perceived, as a comprehensive measure of the United States’ unemployment situation, as the Secretary of Labor implies above. This is evidenced by an article in the Monthly Labor Review, a journal established in 1915 and known as the principal journal of the BLS. In the October 1995 issue, John E. Bregger, a retired Assistant Commissioner for Current Employment Analysis, and Steven E. Haugen, an economist, at the time, in the Division of Labor Force Statistics, Bureau of Labor Statistics stated, on page 24, the U-6 category rate is the most comprehensive among the new range of alternative measures for the U.S. unemployment rate. Despite this, administrations from Clinton to Biden have wrongly and arbitrarily continued to present the U-3 rate, the lower of the two category rates, as being comprehensive of our unemployment situation, essentially undercounting our unemployment rates. Here is the link to the article, read it for yourself, at your leisure. https://www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/1995/10/art3full.pdf.
Recently President Biden falsely promoted U-3, as being comprehensive of our unemployment situation saying, as he crisscrossed the nation, “And [un]employment has been the lowest – been below 4 percent for the longest stretch in 50 years.” In that statement, President Biden distorted the state of our economy. So, readers – let’s understand how Mr. Biden in a practical way hurts American workers, including African Americans by miscalculating what is truly the real unemployment rate versus the political rate, U-3 that he promotes as being comprehensive.
As stated above, the most comprehensive rate of unemployment for July is 7.8%, and the African American worker group unemployment rate is at 10.5% – that means, as of July; 11 Black Americans out of every 100 Black American workers cannot find a full-time Job that pays a living wage, as that individual understands a living wage is, or cannot find full-time employment in the area of their expertise or experience (we round up 10.5% – so 10.5 becomes 11). Out of 1,000 Black American workers – that number would be 110 Black American workers. Out of 10,000 Black American workers – that number is 1,100 for every 10,000 workers cannot find full-time employment in the Biden administration’s economy. This is the actual TRUTH based on what is the Real unemployment rate. In regard to the overall Real unemployment rate – which is 7.8% – again you round up and that means overall, 8 American workers regardless of race, out of every 100 cannot find full-time employment based on the same criteria as stated above. And that would be 80 out of every 1,000 workers and 800 out of every 10,000 workers.
The Biden-Harris administration political unemployment rate of 4.3%, states only 4 American workers out of every 100 are unable to find full-time employment based on the same criteria as stated above. Because the number Biden uses is 4.3% (below 4.5) you round down, getting the number, 4. So that would be 40 out of every 1,000 workers, or 400 out of every 10,000 American workers. However, when we use the correct unemployment rates, we have two radically different economies.
The Real economy requires, the Biden-Harris administration to come up with a long-term Job Creation plan. These facts, as presented here, are true. Fact check this information. American workers need Vice President Kamala Harris to grow, the Real economy of 7.8% unemployment! Nothing Vice President Harris said in her economic speech in Raleigh, N.C. indicates, she is remotely close to acknowledging she, and President Biden will end undercounting the unemployment rates of working-class Americans, including African Americans, who have the highest unemployment rate at 10.5%. We have to honestly ask ourselves, do members of the AKA sorority, and students at HBCU’s support this policy, as Vice President Harris seems to indicate? As a matter of fact, the Biden-Harris administration wants to make the policy of undercounting our unemployment rates permanent, hurting ALL American workers, professional, blue collar, union, and working-class Americans, everywhere. The primary beneficiaries of such a policy are economic immigrants.
Finally, here is a simple way to visualize, or look at what the Biden-Harris administration, Democrats and indeed the Congressional Black Caucus are doing to us and themselves. If you low-ball, or undercount laid-off workers, with a job rate lower (Biden’s July political rate of 4.3%) than the REAL rate for June (7.8%), President Biden willfully counts only 55% of unemployed, and laid-off working-class Americans, leaving 45% of American workers, including African Americans literally uncounted, and unseen by Congressional policy makers, who use the administration’s numbers to construct legislation to help unemployed Americans. For more details, and “factual evidence” Biden and Democrats are doing this, undercounting our Job rates, go now to the article at the link where his economic team negatively comments on his use of the U-3 category rate, when it comes to our unemployment rates: https://thyblackman.com/2024/08/05/joe-biden-faces-challenges-as-black-unemployment-hits-10-5-in-july-his-role-critical-for-vp-harriss-success-in-november/.
Staff Writer; James Davis
Question? Comment? One may use this email address; MrDavis@ThyBlackMan.com.