Those pushing for a right-to-work law in Indiana are making the high unemployment rate the centerpiece of their argument. But now there is a dispute about the rate iteself:
Indiana's unemployment rate crept up to 9 percent in October, up from 8.9 percent the month before. The national rate dropped from 9.1 percent to 9 percent over that same period. These are the numbers most folks are used to hearing when reading official tallies of the struggling economy.
[. . .]
But the official unemployment rate only tracks people actively seeking work. House Minority Leader Patrick Bauer, D-South Bend, and others say it's flawed because it excludes people who either have stopped looking for work or are only working part time.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics produces a range of estimates, from a very strict definition of who is looking for work to a looser definition of joblessness that includes people who want full-time work but only are working part time. Not surprisingly, the broader the definition, the worse things look.
The broadest definition, which includes the so-called underemployed and anyone no longer seeking work, was 15.6 percent of the national labor pool in November. The most recent numbers for Indiana put the state at 15.9 percent through the second quarter of 2011.
Bauer is, of course, right; an unemployment rate that doesn't account for those who are underemployed or have given up looking altogether doesn't begin to measure the depth of our misery. But I'm not clear on why Bauer, of all people, is making the case. He's the chief opponent of right-to-work in the General Assembly, having led fellow Democrats on a five-week boycott of the last session over it. Right-to-work is sold as a way to increase employment, so pointing out that the unemployment rate is even worse than believed would seem not to advance Bauer's cause.
