U.S. Rep. Duncan D. Hunter (R-California) wants the federal government to be more forthcoming, and less manipulative, when it comes to reporting the national unemployment rate. PHOTO COURTESY MARINECORPSTIMES.COM
WASHINGTON, DC – In what could be considered nothing less than a bold move, a California congressman is calling on the federal government to be less myopic when it comes to reporting the national unemployment rate. Republican Rep. Duncan D. Hunter introduced legislation last month which would require the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics to step-up its unemployment rate calculation procedures in order to more accurately reflect the nation’s “official” unemployment rate. Known as the Real Unemployment Calculation Act, Duncan’s bill, which is supported by several other House lawmakers, is more inclusive of individuals who give up looking for work – statistics already compiled and reported by the Department of Labor subdivision. The Bureau of Labor Statistics serves as the “principal Federal agency responsible for measuring labor market activity, working conditions and price changes in the economy. Its mission is to collect, analyze and disseminate essential economic information to support public and private decision-making. As an independent statistical agency, BLS serves its diverse user communities by providing products and services that are objective, timely, accurate and relevant,” according to its website. In Hunter’s estimation, however, the BLS’s monthly unemployment rate figure is anything but “accurate.” The ultraconservative politician reportedly wants the government to recognize the “true” unemployment rate, which he says is a more accurate indicator of joblessness deliberately concealed by politicians who can’t handle the reality of America’s current economic state. “In order to effectively address the economic challenges we face, and confront the national unemployment situation, we must know the full extent of the problem,” Hunter said in a statement on his congressional website. “As some pundits and politicians cite a near 8 percent unemployment rate, they are purposely avoiding a subset of Americans who are not counted.” Under Hunter’s proposal, the standard unemployment rate, referred to as “U-3,” would be exchanged for another regularly compiled and reported rate known as “U-5.” The U-3 number is only representative of those people who searched for work at some point in the previous month, while the U-5 number is inclusive of people who searched for work during the previous year. Hunter’s figure of choice, U-5, also represents “discouraged workers” – or those people not actively searching for work because they believe none is available. Current BLS estimates place the national unemployment rate – or U-3 rate – at 8.2 percent. If represented by the U-5 rate, however, the “real” national unemployment rate jumps to 9.6 percent, which might be too much for other Washington officials and a vast majority of the general American public to handle. “We need real numbers, not D.C. numbers,” Hunter told Fox News last month. His instantly beleaguered contention serves to echo, as well as bolster, a Native Sun News investigative report from last fall in which the state of South Dakota’s “official” unemployment rate was called into question. In publicizing the monthly rate, the state consistently excludes relevant unemployment statistics from its nine Native American reservations much as a matter of course rather than chance. This practice could seemingly be construed as a federal-state governmental alignment to suppress or, at the very least, misrepresent the real facts and figures about unemployment both in South Dakota and in America, said Nickolas Filcaske, a Wyoming native who is married to a member of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe and has lived in South Dakota for four years. “Native Americans should be included in South Dakota’s overall unemployment rate so everyone will know the truth about the dire unemployment conditions that exist right here in the so-called heart of the nation,” he said. “The government shouldn’t worry about looking bad – it’s making itself look bad by not telling the honest-to-God truth about unemployment.” Filcaske, 26, currently resides in Box Elder and has been steadily employed on a full-time basis since he was 18. South Dakota’s rather duplicitous unemployment rate has almost continuously hovered between 4 and 5 percent for the last several years. The most recent figures – from February – available through the South Dakota Department of Labor and Regulation place the state’s unemployment rate at 4.3 percent. Unemployment data for March will be released on April 19, according to the department. The state’s Labor and Regulation Department works closely with the BLS in compiling statewide unemployment information to formulate a monthly estimated unemployment rate figure. At the time of NSN’s special report last October, South Dakota’s purported unemployment rate sat at 4.7 percent. “It’s unfortunate, but the dollars aren’t there to wholly and effectively include South Dakota’s Indian reservations in the official unemployment rate estimate,” said Chuck Jirik, assistant regional commissioner for the BLS’s Chicago region office for federal-state programs, which gathers unemployment data for the state of South Dakota. Jirik was interviewed for NSN’s special report. Lower Brule Sioux Tribe Chairman Michael Jandreau, who has served on the tribe’s council for over 30 years, called South Dakota’s purposeful exclusion of the nine tribes within its borders in calculating an unemployment rate a “historic issue.” “Over 20 years ago, the same thing was brought forth before the state,” he told NSN during the investigation, “but (Indian reservations) don’t fit into what America’s trying to prove.” Perry DeCory III, communications specialist for the Rosebud Sioux Tribe and founder of the tribe’s KOYA Radio, said South Dakota’s explicit omission of tribal unemployment statistics is a “vanity issue.” “The state figures we’re sovereign and don’t need to be included in unemployment statistics. We’re always left out of the loop, and that baffles me,” he said last fall. Congressional newspaper The Hill noted earlier this month the higher national rate of unemployment Hunter seeks to standardize would be a “potentially devastating assessment for the White House, especially in an election year.” (Contact Jesse Abernathy at editor@nsweekly.com) Related Stories:
Native Sun News: Employment program passes over tribes (3/29)
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