True Unemployment Remains Above 23%. ~Shadow Stats.

The jobless rate fell to 9 percent in October from 9.1 percent, the Labor Department said Friday morning. with employers creating 80,000 net new jobs last month.  The true unemployment for the U.S. is 23% defined by the top line in the graph above.

The seasonally-adjusted SGS Alternate Unemployment Rate reflects current unemployment reporting methodology adjusted for SGS-estimated long-term discouraged workers, who were defined out of official existence in 1994. That estimate is added to the BLS estimate of U-6 unemployment, which includes short-term discouraged workers.

The U-3 unemployment rate is the monthly headline number. The U-6 unemployment rate is the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ (BLS) broadest unemployment measure, including short-term discouraged and other marginally attached workers as well as those forced to work part-time because they cannot find full-time employment.

The numbers were lower than analysts’ predictions that the economy would add 95,000 new jobs last month. Media outlets are spinning “surprisingly positive news stating that the Department of Labor revised upward its earlier estimates of August and September job creation by a combined 102,000 jobs. Stripping out the 45,000 workers from Verizon returning to work in September, the number of jobs added to the U.S. economy  during this combine period is closer to 57,000.  Further concern is that the ratio of people with jobs to the overall population remains anemic at only 58.4 percent.

I predict we’ll see static numbers for the balance of 2011 even withe addition of seasonal hiring.  The jobs numbers will go negative quickly in 2012 once these seasonal workers are dismissed.

John Williams Shadow Government Statistics is firm that exposes and analyzes flaws in current U.S. government economic data and reporting, as well as in certain private-sector numbers, and provides an assessment of underlying economic and financial conditions, net of financial-market and political hype.  For more on their work go here.

How Civil: Steelworkers Union President Calls For More Militancy.

United Steelworkers international president Leo Gerard has a message.  “More militancy!”

Just in case the Occupy movement fails, Gerard is urging union members to fill the void with “more militancy.” Here’s a clip of Gerard making a pitch for this on Ed Schultz’s radio show earlier this week. (audio)

Here is the transcript:

GERARD: You’re damn right Wall Street occupiers speak for us. They do in Pittsburgh, they do in Chicago, they do in Oakland, they do in San Francisco, they do all across the country. And I think what we need is, we need more militancy.

SCHULTZ: What does that mean, more militancy?

GERARD: I think we’ve got to start a resistance movement. If Wall Street occupation doesn’t get the message, I think we’ve got to start blocking bridges and doing that kind of stuff. This doesn’t have to be this way. The economy doesn’t have to be this way. It’s being put this way because the Wall Streeters are getting their way.

Then we lost the House ’cause the House got blamed for what the Senate didn’t do and now we got a bunch of right-wing nutjobs running the House of Representatives. And in the last period of time, what do we got now, almost two years, a year and a half, that the only thing they’ve done is bring forward social bills, they haven’t brought forward one jobs bill, not one jobs bill, Ed, not one jobs bill and that’s what they ran on. And no wonder people are occupying. We oughta be doing more than occupying parks. We oughta start occupying bridges. We start oughta occupying the banks places themselves. I mean, I just think that this is nuts. (audio)

SCHULTZ: Mr. Gerard, always a pleasure, keep up the fight, always enjoy  visiting with you on the issues of the day and what’s happening. It’s, uh …

GERARD): We can never give up, Ed, we can never give up ’cause we’re right.

SCHULTZ: We are correct on the issues, no doubt. United Steelworkers international president Leo Gerard here on the Ed Schultz radio show, telling the truth again.