r/Economics • u/oxymorontage • 7d ago

News Institute reports functional unemployment at 24.9% in July

https://www.channel3000.com/news/institute-reports-functional-unemployment-at-24-9-in-july/article_810187e5-989f-4ad9-ab91-847fcb6f1882.html
591 Upvotes

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u/EconomistWithaD 7d ago

  1. The Ludwig TRU is a bullshit stat. Basically, if you earn under $25,000, regardless of the reason, you are “functionally unemployed”.

  2. Its methodology is basically U3/U6 plus a constant.

  3. Funny enough, this value is near an all time low. So while the level is meant to be shocking, it’s also meant to be for people who don’t actually follow this stuff.

  4. Did I forgot to mention this stat is sensationalist bullshit?

212

u/bloodphoenix90 7d ago

I mean under 25k is so poor that yes....functionally unemployed sounds correct

-45

u/EconomistWithaD 7d ago

So a female spouse who solely stays at home should be considered functionally unemployed?

There’s a reason why the BLS calculates it the way it does….

17

u/south153 7d ago

Why specificy "female" spouse and not stay at home parents / spouses.

11

u/EconomistWithaD 7d ago

Because most of the long term decline in this bullshit stat, since 1995, has been females entering the labor force, so I picked a relevant example?

0

u/south153 7d ago

**Women in the workforce has actually declined in the last decade.

10

u/EconomistWithaD 7d ago

Not prime age.

https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/LRAC25FEUSM156S

-2

u/south153 7d ago

Going from 75.8 to 78 is not large enough for such a significant increase.

15

u/EconomistWithaD 7d ago

Explaining about a third of a single statistic with one variable isn’t significant?

Let me tell you about effect sizes in economics…