The White House, reacting to the latest jobless report showing the unemployment rate fell unexpectedly to 9.4 percent in July, predicted that despite the good news the rate would still hit 10 percent before year's end.
But in effect it already has.
The actual percentage of Americans who remain unemployed -- including those who have stopped looking for work -- is considerably higher than 9.4 percent and surpassed 10 percent months ago. By one measure, the unemployment rate is really 10.7 percent.
When you count those forced to settle for part-time work, the number is higher still. The 9.4 percent figure represents a very specific measurement of unemployed people that doesn't factor in everybody.
The Labor Department report Friday was good news nevertheless. It showed the jobless rate fell one tenth of a point, the first decline in 15 months.
President Obama said Friday his administration has "rescued our economy from collapse." He said much more needs to be done and that he won't rest until "every American that is looking for a job can find one."
White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said Friday that while there's still plenty of work to do the report is "more evidence that we have pulled back from the edge" of a depression.
Employers throttled back on layoffs in July, cutting just 247,000 jobs, the fewest in a year. It was a better-than-expected showing that offered a strong signal that the recession is finally ending.
But if laid-off workers who have given up looking for new jobs or have settled for part-time work are included the unemployment rate would have been 16.3 percent in July. That's down from 16.5 percent in June, which was the highest on records dating to 1994 -- but still higher than a few months ago.
Nailing down the actual percentage of unemployed Americans is exceedingly tricky. The Labor Department uses a survey method, like a poll, to gauge unemployment -- not a Census-style head count. The survey tries to determine the number of unemployed as a percentage of the labor force, but the labor force is only defined as those who are looking for work. - FOX News Story
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