A number of informed observers noted that the U.S. unemployment rate did not fall precipitously.
During the campaign of 2016, Trump insisted that the data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics was a hoax.
The data may not be a hoax, but they are wrong.
Robert J. Shapiro explained in the Washington Monthly that the data were wrong.
The Washington Post reported a “misclassification error” that reduced the unemployment rate.
The Post reported that:
When the U.S. government’s official jobs report for May came out on Friday, it included a note at the bottom saying there had been a major “error” indicating that the unemployment rate likely should be higher than the widely reported 13.3 percent rate. The special note said that if this “misclassification error” had not occurred, the “overall unemployment rate would have been about 3 percentage points higher than reported,” meaning the unemployment rate would be about 16.3 percent for May. But that would still be an improvement from an unemployment rate of about 19.7 percent for April, applying the same standards. The Bureau of Labor Statistics, the agency that puts out the monthly jobs reports, said it was working to fix the problem.
Of course, these careful statements did not present Trump crowing about the jobs report and claiming outrageously that the recently murdered George Floyd would be happy to see the new data. Trump beloveds
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Indiana is not doing very well. [Neither is Illinois.] Is this the best this country can do? At the current time, I believe it is the best because we don’t have people in power who care.
…………………………….
[NWI Times] Indiana residents hurting 14th most financially during pandemic, study finds
Indiana residents are hurting 14th most financially among the states, and Illinois residents 7th most as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, a new study found.
A report by New York City-based SmartAsset found the COVID-19 pandemic and related shutdowns have caused financial stress for nearly nine out of 10 Americans. But the financial shocks have been felt more acutely in some places.
Indiana suffered a 16.9% unemployment rate in April with 24.4% of adults experiencing housing insecurity, the study found. An estimated 10.1% of Hoosiers suffered from food insufficiency, while Indiana’s poverty rate stood at 13.1%.
Illinois had a 16.4% unemployment rate and a poverty rate of 12.1%. An estimated 25.7% suffered from housing insecurity and 12.3% from food insufficiency. …
https://www.nwitimes.com/business/local/indiana-residents-hurting-14th-most-financially-during-pandemic-study-finds/article_361c327c-1bf6-5a9c-8e82-8660a1478bbd.html?utm_medium=social&utm_source=email&utm_campaign=user-share
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On the surface, Idaho’s employment news is getting better. Look deeper.
JUNE 04, 2020 02:34 PM , UPDATED JUNE 05, 2020
…Meanwhile, some Idahoans have gone without unemployment aid despite two months or more of waiting as bills pile up.
The Department of Labor was not staffed to handle the onslaught of claims that began in March, and it has struggled to take on new programs Congress assigned to state labor departments as part of a $2.2 trillion coronavirus relief law.
The state engaged a 30-person call center that began accepting calls Monday from jobless workers who still haven’t received unemployment benefits. The state has a backlog of questions about claimants’ eligibility that it must research before authorizing payments.
The center was immediately flooded with calls, prompting messages asking callers to try again later. Some callers were still getting those messages Thursday.
The call center is operated by Maximus, a Virginia company that has provided other call-center services to Idaho in recent years.
Read more here: https://www.idahostatesman.com/news/rebuild/article243273946.html?#storylink=cpy
https://www.idahostatesman.com/news/rebuild/article243273946.html
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I don’t think unemployment rates could be accurate if the government is basing that info on claims for unemployment insurance. That’s because there are so many people like me who were unable to get full time work so have had to take part time jobs or were hired as independent contractors, but part timers and people doing gig work don’t qualify for unemployment compensation.
I had two part time teaching jobs to supplement my unlivable Social Security Retirement Income, which is low because it’s based primarily on my having taught in child care centers for minimum wage for decades. One school in higher ed where I’ve been working closed though so I have just one job left, but I wasn’t given work assignments nor received a paycheck in the past 7 months. I just started another work assignment this month and am scheduled to teach classes through December, but enrollment is down so I’m not sure if each of my courses will run. My class is very small now and I’m paid per student who completes at least 60% of the course, so when my paycheck comes at the end of the month, it won’t be much. I would not have made it through this long without the stimulus check and SNAP, but it doesn’t look like those will be coming again –and I’m guessing that my employment status has not been counted by the government all all this time.
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It’s criminal what we are doing to those with Social Security. People should be able to live comfortably in retirement without having to work multiple jobs in a gig economy.
I am truly sorry you have to live this.
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Threatened Out West,
Thank you so much for your understanding. I really appreciate the acknowledgment of how challenging this truly is, and the sentiment of your kind words.
All the best to you–
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In other news:
VLAD’S AGENT ORANGE, DJT: Well, I’m worried. All this pandemic stuff and the protests are big distractions from my re-election campaign.
PUTIN: Donald, speaking of distractions, this would be a great time for the U.S. to pull troops out of Germany.
DJT: Oh, come on. Do I have to? Everyone’s already screaming at me for threatening to use the military against Americans.
PUTIN: Donald.
DJT: OK. OK.
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Bob,
You could be a script writer.
Good one.
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I think any way you look at it, it’s a marginally positive development. Emphasis on marginally. I’m afraid we’ve entered Phase 2 of the first phase of a complete breakdown of society. None of it is positive, none of it is an opportunity.
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Did you see the Andy Borowitz tweet?
“White House Admits That Betsy DeVos Did Math For Latest Jobs Report”
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What is not accounted for is how PPP funds, that are now distributed, have artificially held true unemployment numbers down. The grand bargain is that if you take PPP, you keep people on the payroll even if your business is closed. This is a good thing, however, once those funds run out, it is likely many of those businesses will either fail or lay people off.
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