The Unemployment Rate — How can it be so low? 

Subject:     Re: The Daily for: 1998-08-07
    Date:     Fri, 07 Aug 1998 08:24:00 -0700
   From:     Walter Schneider < >
      To:     daily@talon.statcan.ca

Please clarify the information provided by you in the following:

Jackie Godfrey [StatCan] wrote: ( http://www.statcan.ca/Daily/English/980807/d980807.htm ) **      What's in today's DAILY     ** 98 08 07 08 30 Friday, August 7, 1998 For release at 8:30 a.m. MAJOR RELEASES Labour Force Survey, -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Labour Force Survey July 1998 Increase in youth employment ...   Among students aged 15 to 19, 46.9% were employed, an increase of 2.4 percentage points over July 1997. The unemployment rate for this age group stood at 20.9%, a drop of 2.8 percentage points.     In contrast, 69.2% of the older students were employed, a drop of 1.1   percentage points from the same time last year. Despite the decline in employment for this age group, the unemployment rate fell 0.9 percentage points to 9.6% due to a drop in labour force participation. ...

Surely, by using the term "unemployment rate," you must mean to identify the people entitled to receive employment insurance benefits.  If not, then your statements, as they often appear to be in relation to unemployment rates, are contradictory.  For example, if 46.9% are employed, that means that 53.1% are not and are therefore unemployed.  What motivates you then to state "The unemployment rate for this age group stood at 20.9%,..."?  Such statements could be damaging to your credibility.

Please be so good and explain.

Sincerely,

Walter H. Schneider
Box 62, Bruderheim, Alberta  T0B 0S0

Note: As of Mar. 30, 2005, Statistics Canada had not replied to the information request. --WHS

See also: STOP THE UNRAVELING OF A NATION

_______________
Last updated:
1999 06 04
2001 01 30 (format changes)