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Over half a million unemployed Americans quit looking for a job in November. That’s almost twice the total population of the 10 largest cities in West Virginia. But our government reports that the unemployment rate dropped by a full .3 percent, down to 7.7 percent. How can this be?
It’s not a lie. People who stop looking for work are not counted as being unemployed. They have left the workforce and left the equation. At the same time, only 146,000 people found work. That number counts, even if the person who found a job was previously listed as “left the workforce.”
In the book “1984” by George Orwell there is a new language called “Newspeak.” It is rewritten, simplified English designed to keep the people pacified. Thinking differently from Newspeak, old words and thoughts are illegal. “Thought crime” is the term used in the book which was written way back in 1949.
Is our government’s reporting of employment statistics Newspeak? Maybe yes, maybe no. Two things are for sure — it’s not honest and it’s totally useless. Wow, did I just commit a thought crime?
Paul Dorsey
Green Valley
Letters to the Editor
Discussion
Are employment numbers ‘Newspeak’?
Anonymous Bluefield Daily Telegraph The Bluefield Daily Telegraph Sun Dec 09, 2012, 05:00 AM EST
- Letters to the Editor
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Tolls should be spread across state
May 22, 2013
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Time for changes in West Virginia
May 21, 2013
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Rifles not weapons of mass destruction
May 20, 2013
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Whittle deserving of front-page story
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Thanks for help with WISE benefit
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God intended marriage for husband, wife
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Life moment: Humans limit knowledge
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Tolls should be spread across state
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