ALL unemployment figures are "average," and some sectors are always harder hit than others.

Reference chart

Carter took office in January of 1977 with a rate of 7.7 percent. When Reagan took office in 1981, it was still 7.1 percent and heading upward. The inflation rate was in the teens, and the prime rate was over 20 percent. The term "stagflation" had been invented, as was the "misery index."

The Reagan administration rode the unemployment rate up to almost 10 percent, and then down to 5.5 percent when Bush took office in 1989. Inflation and high interest rates vanished, never to be seen again. It was up to 7.5 percent when Clinton took office. Under Clinton it dropped down to 4 percent, where it stood when the second Bush took office.

You can pass blame or credit around as you see fit. There are a lot of factors besides who is in office--unless you maybe count Greenspan--but the point I was trying to make is that historically, since the Carter administration, the rate has been higher than 6 percent for over half the time. It got better.

If the "standard of living" is in the crapper, how come all the other indicators are rising?