Welcome to another exciting episode of Are
You Unemployed?
[energetic music]
Here's your host, The Bureau of Labor
Statistics.
[audience cheering]
Hello, jobless Americans! The unemployment
figures have been released. So it's time
to see if you're officially unemployed!
Let's meet our contestants.
Contestant number 1. You were recently
laid off. Have you found a new job?
[sigh] No way. No one's hiring right now.
I haven't even bothered to look.
[Buzzer sound]
I'm sorry! You are not in the labor
market and therefore are not officially
unemployed.
[energetic music]
Contestant number 2. It says here you lost
your job as an auto worker. Have you found
a new one?
No, not yet. The industry isn't doing so
well. I need a job but I stopped looking
because the plants closed down.
[Buzzer sound]
Oh, I'm sorry! You're not working but
you're not officially unemployed either.
[Bell dings]
Contestant number 3. You were an airline
pilot until a recent downsizing. Have you
found work?
Ugh. Well, I'm still looking for a real
job, but all I could get was four hours a
week at a home store.
[Buzzer]
Oh no! That four hours counts as employed!
Contestant number 4. You lost your job as
a stockbroker. Have you found another?
No, I haven't yet but I did look in the
classifieds last week.
[music and sound of typing]
[loud hearbeat sound]
[loud celebratory music]
Congratulations, Contestant number 4!
You get to to the counted in the official
unemployment rate!
But what about the other contestants?
They're jobless. Why don't they count?
Well, if we included them,
that would make the number much worse!