What's the REAL Unemployment Rate in 2011?

Today CNN reported that the Bureau of Labor Statistics says that 43% of 14 million unemployed Americans have been out of work for 6 months or longer. Wouldn't that also mean that 57% of 14 million unemployed Americans have been out of work for only 6 months or less? They're saying that most of the unemployed today lost their jobs since March of this year!!

If last year, at one point, 10 million people were receiving some form of unemployment compensation, why do I always hear that only 8 million jobs were lost during the recession? How can that be?

Add to that, how many people didn't work long enough, or earn enough, to even qualify for UI benefits in the first place, but were also laid off? It doesn't make any sense to me.

Also, of the one million NET jobs gained from one year-to-date, how many of those were temporary part-time low paying jobs, and NOT regular full-time positions paying a "living wage"? And if only one person obtained 2 of those part-time jobs, does the Bureau of Labor Statistics count those as 2 NET jobs gained, even when only one person was actually employed? Just wondering.

I'm trying to decide how many people to-date are receiving state UI benefits (up to 26 weeks) and how many people to-date are receiving federal extended benefits (from 26 to 99 weeks), and how many people to-date are still unemployed with have no benefits at all (99ers and "exhaustees"), and how many will be without any benefits at all by the end of the year (minus any NET jobs gained with natural population growth) if the funding for these benefits are extended for those who might still qualify. Below are a few links for reference.

August 1, 2011 - 3.8 million people currently receiving federal extended benefits

April 30, 2011- 5.5 million Americans were unemployed and not receiving any benefits. As of mid-March, about 8.5 million people were receiving some kind of unemployment payments, down from 11.5 million a year earlier, according to the Labor Department. As of March, about 14 million people were unemployed and looking for work, according to the household survey. At the time the survey was done, about 8.5 million were receiving some kind of unemployment payments, according to the Labor Department’s Employment and Training Administration. That leaves about 5.5 million people unemployed without benefits, up 1.4 million from a year earlier.

June 10, 2010 - There were 4.5 million receiving state benefits, and another 5.4 million receiving extended benefits....about 10 million.

Now add that to all of the above, those who have been graduating from high and college and just first entering the workforce but never found employment at all and are still without a job. Then add to that those who completed their tours of military duty and opted for early military pensions because they couldn't find work either, as well as those who took an early Social Security retirement.

If last year, at one point, 10 million people were receiving some form of unemployment compensation, why do I always hear that only 8 million jobs were lost during the recession? How can that be?

Add to that, how many people didn't work long enough or earn enough to even qualify for UI benefits, but were also laid off? It doesn't make sense to me.

Also, of the one million NET jobs gained from one-year-to-date, how many of those were temporary part-time low paying jobs, and NOT regular full-time positions? And if one person obtained 2 of those jobs, does the Bureau of Labor Statistics count those as 2 NET jobs gained, when only one person was actually employed? Just wondering.

Today CNN just said that 43% of 14 million unemployed Americans have been out of work for 6 months or longer. So that would equal 6.02 million people of the 14 million now reported jobless. So that means those people must either collect federal extended benefits or have already exhausted all those benefits. It was last reported that 3.8 million people were currently receiving federal extended benefits. So that would indicate only 2.2 million people would be counted by the Bureau of Labor Statistics and call marginally attached or discourage workers - and that couldn't possibly include the 99ers and all other "UI exhaustees".

That would also mean that the bulk of those presently unemployed lost their jobs only 6 months ago (March 2011 to the present) - and that those 57% (or 7.97 million) would potentially be receiving State UI benefits, which are for usually 6 months, or 26 weeks.

We were shedding 750,00 jobs a month in late 2008 / early 2009 when I was laid off. My last unemployment check was in June 2010. Am I, and all those laid off before me during that same period of time, also counted in the 9.1% (14 million) unemployment rate? Hell no!

We had almost 15 million people unemployed in December 2009; and 8 million people of those currently reported as being unemployed just recently lost their jobs since March 2011! How can that be???????

Is the REAL national U-3 unemployment rate nearer to 15%, with a REAL national U-6 unemployment rate nearer to 25% if you count the 99ers and all other UI exhaustees? Is that why the Bureau of Labor Statistics says we have a much smaller labor force and that the "participation rate" is only 65%? Does that mean we have a non-participation rate of 35% (or a REAL unemployment rate of 35%?)

Just wondering. See my jobs bill here.