honest unemployment question

[capthek]

So there have been a number of news stories lately saying that older people, say above 50 or 55, are suffering from very high unemployment numbers because of their relatively high salaries and less technical know how

Comments

[goumindong]

My suggestion is to go over to the BLS(or FRED) and get the data directly. Make sure to check for u-3 to u-6.

At least for the U.S. Not sure about any other people who do detailed unemployment reports

[p2thej]

Without even looking at data, I would consider the possibility that, for obvious reasons, there is a substantially larger workforce over the age of thirty than under. Thus a lower unemployment rate for the 30+ crowd could still yield a higher number of unemployed.

If you are suspicious of NYT, they do cite bls so I would check that out. I doubt they are going to blatantly lie just to cater to a captive audience. I do think the image of grandpa in an unemployment line would probably trigger a stronger emotional response in anyone than that of a recent college grad. If there is indeed a bias I suspect that would be why, though I would advise against further investigation of that path.

[p2thej]

Eh, I couldn't resist investigating the source, and I suspect that could be part of the problem...

The IBM site draws from: ftp://ftp.bls.gov/pub/suppl/empsit.cpseea10.txt

Try:
ftp://ftp.bls.gov/pub/special.requests/lf/aat3.txt