Why should you examine historical data for unemployment calculations?

Well, here at the dog........ we look for as much data as we can find before reaching any sort of conclusion. Then, we show you the reader what we find and ask; What do you think? We have found some interesting data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics aka "BLS". First, we look at the current unemployment rate from the BLS of 9.4% also known as "U-3". Then, we ask how is that number derived? Next, we ask is that number comparable to past data? Here is a reference from the BLS that can answer these questions:

http://www.bls.gov/cps/eetech_methods.pdf

Now, we search for other computational methods and we find some from the BLS. One method includes "marginally attached workers". Here is an article from the BLS so you can understand what that means:

http://www.bls.gov/opub/ils/pdf/opbils74.pdf

Lastly, we look at the total of these figures known as "U-6" from the BLS and find total unemployment "U-6" for May, 2009 at 16.4%. Here are the numbers from the BLS:

http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.t12.htm

Tell us what you think............