When the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics published their monthly regional and state employment report on unemployment for September, Texas was one of 23 states whose unemployment rate decreased, but only by .2 points(8.1%) as of October 2010. The BLS(Bureau of Labor Statistics) classifies someone as unemployed if they “do not have a job, have actively looked for work in the prior 4 weeks, and are currently available for work.” By this definition, the Bureau rashly concludes that the unemployment figure covers more than the number of people who are actually out of work.
When you read about these statistics, you wonder if everyone that is counted by these statistics is actually following by these guidelines. As we all should know in the real world not everyone follows the rules completely. Some individuals find ways to bend the rules, whether they are too lazy to do so or just given up looking for work in this economy, after having been unemployed or without decent work in more than a year. Others use the “unpaid family workers,” which includes people who worked without pay for 15 or more hours per week in a family-owned enterprise operated by someone in their household. These individuals are out of work and collect unemployment on top of being paid by their family. Whether you're following every rule or finding ways to bend them, everyone in this national economic crisis is just trying to keep their heads above water and hoping for things to take a turn in the right direction soon.
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