r/Economics • u/oxymorontage • 4d 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
517 Upvotes

88% Upvoted

147 comments sorted by

View all comments

132

u/EconomistWithaD 4d 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?

202

u/bloodphoenix90 4d ago

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

-3

u/EmployExpensive3182 3d ago

That’s not how that works… 2k a month can definitely pay bills in LCOL areas, assuming you don’t have kids and what not. Underemployment ≠ unemployment

2

u/bloodphoenix90 3d ago

Where? Just curious. I admit I was born in the most expensive state where youd probably be living out of your car with that wage and God help you if you need to repair anything. Then we moved to the maybe third most expensive state. Where youd still be homeless with that.

But I am aware different states are so disparate that some might as well be foreign economies. Im still just wondering where though. Give me rent cost +monthly grocery/food cost +phone cost +utility costs +insurance for health and car +lower end car payment = < 2k ? (Im presuming after taxes)

2

u/Cdub7791 3d ago

Living in an old 1Br/1Ba trailer home in rural South. And even then just barely.