The Abbott and Costello unemployment fiasco
Anybody ever feel like the government is under-reporting the rate of unemployment in America?
Barry Levinson brings us this hilarious and extremely revealing Abbott and Costello discussion about what the real rate of unemployment in America actually is.
COSTELLO: I want to talk about the unemployment rate in America.
ABBOTT: Good Subject. Terrible times. It’s about 8 percent. COSTELLO: That many people are out of work? ABBOTT: No, that’s 16 percent. COSTELLO: You just said 8 percent. ABBOTT: 8 percent unemployed. COSTELLO: Right 8 percent out of work. ABBOTT: No, that’s 16 percent. COSTELLO: Okay, so it’s 16 percent unemployed. ABBOTT: No, that’s around 8 percent …. COSTELLO: Wait a minute. Is it 8 percent or 16 percent? ABBOTT: 8 percent are unemployed. 16 percent are out of work. COSTELLO: If you are out of work aren’t you unemployed? ABBOTT: No, you can’t count the “out of work” as unemployed. You have to look for work to be unemployed. COSTELLO: But they are out of work!!! ABBOTT: No, you miss my point. COSTELLO: What point? ABBOTT: Someone who doesn’t look for work, can’t be counted with those who look for work. It wouldn’t be fair. COSTELLO: To who? ABBOTT: The unemployed. COSTELLO: But they are all out of work. ABBOTT: No, the unemployed are actively looking for work …. Those who are out of work stopped looking. They gave up. And, if you give up, you are no longer in the ranks of the unemployed. COSTELLO: So if you’re off the unemployment rolls, that would count as less unemployment? ABBOTT: Unemployment would go down. Absolutely! COSTELLO: The unemployment just goes down because you don’t look for work? ABBOTT: Absolutely it goes down. That’s how you get to 8 percent. Otherwise it would be 16 percent. You don’t want to read about 16 percent unemployment do ya? COSTELLO: That would be frightening. ABBOTT: Absolutely. COSTELLO: Wait, I got a question for you. That means there’re two ways to bring down the unemployment number? ABBOTT: Two ways is correct. COSTELLO: Unemployment can go down if someone gets a job? ABBOTT: Correct. COSTELLO: And unemployment can also go down if you stop looking for a job? ABBOTT: Bingo. COSTELLO: So there are two ways to bring unemployment down, and the easier of the two is to just stop looking for work. ABBOTT: Now you’re thinking like an economist. COSTELLO: I don’t even know what … I just said!
What is even more shocking is that the real unemployment/”out of work” rate may even be higher than both numbers suggest. If the rate of unemployment was calculated the way it was in the pre-Clinton era, the real unemployment rate in America would be over 22 percent, according to statistician John Williams at Shadow Government Stats. His number includes “long-term discouraged workers” whom the Bureau of Labor Statistics defined out of existence in 1994.
