Monday, August 30, 2010

How Times Have Changed: Definition of "Ridiculously Low Unemployment"

The mainstream media has a story with the headline about the ten (10) states with ridiculously low unemployment rates. Only three states are below five percent. The rest are above six percent, except for New Hampshire which comes in at 5.8 percent, for all intents and purposes, also six percent. The three states with unemployment less than five percent: North Dakota, South Dakota, and Nebraska.

North Dakota is the only state below four percent, and has been there for quite some time. I would assume the rate will drop a bit come winter when some of the underemployed, newcomers return to their home states.

Except, maybe for North Dakota, and that's a stretch, I wouldn't call these unemployment rates ridiculously low. During my entire working life, "full employment" was defined as an unemployment rate of four percent.

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