Courtesy of Mish.
The Gallup Daily U.S. Employment , poll estimates unemployment at 6.3% and underemployment at 14.5%.
Gallup cautions: “Because results are not seasonally adjusted, they are not directly comparable to numbers reported by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, which are based on workers 16 and older. Margin of error is ±1 percentage point.”
Actually the numbers can be compared. All one has to do is use the BLS non-seasonally adjusted numbers.
Civilian Unemployment Rate, Not Seasonally Adjusted
Gallup estimates the unemployment rate at 6.3% but the BLS says 5.6%. If anything, the BLS number should be higher than Gallup.
Why?
Because Gallup surveys those 18 and older whereas the BLS surveys 16 and older. Given high youth-unemployment, any BLS bias should be higher, not lower.
Underemployment
And please check out the massive difference in underemployment. The BLS says 10.7% while Gallup says 14.5%!
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