I have always disparaged the standard method, since it counted only those actively looking for work, not those able to work. People capable of working are either working or they are not. In short, all persons who are able to work, but who are not working, should be counted as unemployed, because they are. This method is invariant with respect to changes in silly stuff like "actively looking for work." It is a solid demographic statistic.

I am no liberal Democrat, as you well know from my other postings. However, the unemployment problem is really there, and it is really large. Perhaps we were spoiled by the 4% reported figure under Clinton during the "Dot-Com" bubble, that vanished when the bubble burst, but that is what people remember and how people think. If the job situation does not get better fast, then Bush will lose the election in November, something that I do not want to happen.