Maybe I'm cynical but these stats are manufactured, there is some truth in them but we'd be hard pressed to find it. The actual numbers are much higher.

Quote Originally Posted by Sawin View Post
I'm in no way defending BO, but we must consider how many of that 36.5% are children under 18 years of age and over 65 years old, don't you think? A quick google search tells me in the 2011 census, 23.7% of the US population was under 18 years old and 13.3% was over 65, so those numbers don't really seem as far off as you might think.
The labor stats only count people 16 and over. - edited to correct my error.

http://portalseven.com/employment/un...nt_rate_u6.jsp

The U6 unemployment rate counts not only people without work seeking full-time employment (the more familiar U-3 rate), but also counts "marginally attached workers and those working part-time for economic reasons." Note that some of these part-time workers counted as employed by U-3 could be working as little as an hour a week. And the "marginally attached workers" include those who have gotten discouraged and stopped looking, but still want to work. The age considered for this calculation is 16 years and over