Like most countries, the U.S. releases unemployment numbers designed to HIDE what is happening with employment.

Rather than educating or enlightening people - the U.S. simply engages in much larger lies than most other countries.

The ONLY way to get a valid, “big picture” view of employment trends is through the broadest measurements of the unemployment rates. This is precisely why no Western governments report such figures as their “headline” number.

Using the broadest measurement of unemployment, John Williams calculates U.S. unemployment at over 20%, while the government’s own broadest measurement is close to 17%.

Using realistic numbers, virtually every Western economy is in double-digits in LONG-TERM unemployment - with no possibility of that changing, given the current structure of labour markets.

I’m concerned that as we move into the new year there will be a wave of bankruptcies as marginal businesses fold, giving unemployment a move back to higher levels. This could negate all the “improvements in the rate of decline” and stall our already anemic recovery. I don’t think the market could absorb that type of shock.

- Jeff Nielson

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