The Case of the Missing Jobless; Why Those Monthly Unemployment Figures Tell Only Part of a Grim Story
TWO DAYS ago, the latest federal unemployment report put the nation's jobless rate at 7.3 percent in February - up 0.2 points from January's figure. But in fact, something far more complicated and, ultimately, disheartening may have been happening:</br></br>About 125,000 more people entered the ranks of those who have been unemployed for six months or longer - twice as many as were in that category one year ago.</br></br>About one million "discouraged" workers had stopped looking for work, and therefore were not counted among the unemployed.</br></br>An unknown number of Americans were working at temporary jobs or other positions for which they are overqualified.</br></br>None of these facts made the same headline splash as the 7.3 percent unemployment rate - if they made the news at all. But the omissions are important ones.