Unemployment: U-6, 17.1%

The unemployment rate is steady at 9.6 percent.

Really?

From the Washington Post:

The nation's gloomy job situation remained essentially static in September, as a modest increase in private employment was offset by the loss of government jobs, the Labor Department reported Friday.

The politically sensitive unemployment rate remained at 9.6 percent, and the number of unemployed people - 14.8 million - remained essentially unchanged from the previous month.

Overall, employers shed 95,000 jobs in September. Private employers added 64,000 jobs, but the loss of temporary Census jobs and increasing cuts by state and local governments grappling with the aftershocks of the recession caused the loss of 159,000 government posts.

The number of people involuntarily working part time increased by 612,000 in September to 9.5 million, the government reported.

...Speaking at a masonry company in Bladensburg, President Obama trumpeted the gains in private-sector job growth, although he acknowledged that the overall jobs picture remains troubling.

"Yes, the trend line in private-sector job growth is moving in the right direction. But I'm not interested in trends or figures as much as I am interested in the people behind them," Obama said, "the millions of honest, hardworking Americans swept up in the one of the most devastating recessions of our lifetimes."

"We're moving in the right direction."

Blah, blah, blah.

Why doesn't Obama be more transparent with the American people? Why isn't he more honest about the unemployment picture?

Of course, the answer is Obama's a politician, not a leader.

From the Wall Street Journal:

The U.S. jobless rate was flat at 9.6% in September, but the government’s broader measure of unemployment rose even more to 17.1%, the highest rate since April and down just slightly from the October 2009 high of 17.4%.

The comprehensive gauge of labor underutilization, known as the “U-6″ for its data classification by the Labor Department, accounts for people who have stopped looking for work or who can’t find full-time jobs.

The key to the rise in the broader unemployment rate was due to a 612,000 jump in the number of people employed part time but who would prefer full-time work. Meanwhile, the number of discouraged workers and those who classify themselves as “marginally attached” to the labor force also increased.

Those jumps were likely affected by a temporary end to extended unemployment benefits. Earlier this year, Congress let an extension of jobless benefits lapse. During that period people may have dropped out of the work force, and though many returned in August some were still coming back into the system last month.

The 9.6% unemployment rate is calculated based on people who are without jobs, who are available to work and who have actively sought work in the prior four weeks. The “actively looking for work” definition is fairly broad, including people who contacted an employer, employment agency, job center or friends; sent out resumes or filled out applications; or answered or placed ads, among other things. The rate is calculated by dividing that number by the total number of people in the labor force, which was relatively steady this month.

The broader rate increased despite a rise of 140,000 in the number of people who are employed. Meanwhile, the number of unemployed people in the U.S. fell by 93,000. However, the size of the labor force was relatively flat despite population growth, as many people dropped out altogether. That could be the result of long-term unemployed, who have exhausted potentially up to 99 weeks of benefits in parts of the country, giving up on their job searches. The number of people unemployed over 27 weeks fell a bit last month, but still remains high at over 6.1 million. And that figure doesn’t include people who have dropped out of the labor force.

The U-6 figure includes everyone in the official rate plus “marginally attached workers” — those who are neither working nor looking for work, but say they want a job and have looked for work recently; and people who are employed part-time for economic reasons, meaning they want full-time work but took a part-time schedule instead because that’s all they could find.

The unemployment rate isn't really essentially static, as The Post claims.

Nonetheless, the Democrat-Media Complex continues to spread its propaganda, that unemployment is steady.

No, it's not.

Tell the whole truth, Obama. Tell the whole truth, Obama hacks.