the numbers are never meaningless....they show a trend...year over year...decade over decade....longer than you and I have been around...so they are what they are..... Z
The methodology for tracking unemployment figures was changed during the Reagan or Clinton administration, I can't recall which. It was at that time that we stopped counting people who's unemployment benefits had expired but had not yet found work, as unemployed. And really, wouldn't such a person reasonably be considered "unemployed"?
the closest thing you'll find to being the true numbers published by the BLS is the U-6, not the more broadly reported and often quoted U-3.
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