We can extend this to a fourth group of unemployment if we want: the discouraged workers.
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There were 1.3 million discouraged workers in December 2010, an increase of 389, 000 persons from the previous year.
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John Williams estimates that if U-6 counted the long-term discouraged workers, the unemployment rate would be 22.8%.
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If discouraged workers and others marginally attached to the labor force are included, the unofficial unemployment rate exceeds 16 percent.
Discouraged workers are those who are not currently looking for a job because they feel their search would be in vain.
Another 2.6 million were defined as marginally attached to the labor force, including discouraged workers who had given up looking for work.
The past downturn in metals markets discouraged workers from pursuing mining careers.
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The unemployment rate remained at 9.5% only because 181, 000 additional discouraged workers left the work force and so were not counted as unemployed.
The number of discouraged workers has increased, both in absolute numbers and as a percentage of the population, there is no doubt about that.
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Not so according to the U-6 unemployment rate, which includes not only unemployed but underemployed and discouraged workers, it actually rose to 16.9% this month.
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If discouraged workers have left the labour force because they could not find a job, then the unemployment rate may understate the hardship they face.
Some argue that the official rate is high enough, but that ignores discouraged workers, or those not consistently looking, or those working work part-time but want full-time jobs.
Temporary factors explain some of this shortfall: discouraged workers have given up hunting for work because no jobs are available, and the young are staying in education longer.
People, most journalists included, just assumed that the large decline in the unemployment rate on weak employment growth was caused by discouraged workers dropping out of the labor force.
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Once you factor in the U-6 measure of unemployment, which includes discouraged workers and part-time workers seeking full time employment, the real unemployment rate is at a sky high 14.9%.
The recent decline in the jobless rate has been misleading, the result of a surprisingly small growth in the workforce (as discouraged workers drop out) as much as fast job creation.
Without delving into a tangent on the nuances of under-employment, discouraged workers or issuing a polemic on why unemployment remains elevated even as the workforce shrinks, these figures demonstrate the dubious legitimacy of macroeconomics.
Amongst this group, the number of discouraged workers , or people who have stopped looking for jobs because they believe there are none available to them, reached 1.3 million, a gain of 421, 000 from 2009.
December's decline is largely a result of a shrinking labor force, Karl says, and a string of large increases in payrolls (say 200, 000 or so monthly) could just as easily send the number higher as more discouraged workers resume looking for employment.
The second column includes discouraged teen workers, who are unemployed and have stopped looking for a job.
At least we can be sure that as more workers get discouraged, the official unemployment rate goes down.
They lean on labour rather than on capital, because capitalists are deterred from investing more easily than workers are discouraged from labouring.
In addition, we would have provided jobs for 30% of both the 2.4 million discouraged or marginally attached workers and the 4.8 million who have totally dropped out of the work force since January 2008.
More importantly, the real unemployment rate, which factors in discouraged and under-employed workers, rose from 16.7% to 17.1%.
Unison's Lily Kerr said social workers felt "discouraged by political rows".
About half of all workers are currently prohibited or strongly discouraged from talking about what they make with their coworkers.
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Consider how in just the last few months, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has discouraged companies from investing in the United States and hiring American workers.
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