28 January 2014 (17:00 UTC-07 Tango)/26 Rabi ‘al-Awwal 1435/08 Bahman 1392/28 Gui-Chou (12th month) 4711

For the past few days Idaho news media have been painting a rosy picture, saying Idaho’s unemployment rate dropped by one percent.  And some even went as far as declaring the bad local economy dead!

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that Idaho’s unemployment rate for December fell to 5.7%.   Some Idaho news sources must’ve got hit with complaints about their initial interpretation of the unemployment rate, because some local news sources went on to admit, in later reports, that December’s jobs were almost all temporary end of year holiday hires.

(An east Idaho TV station actually re-edited their initial report.  The initial report had Idaho Department of Labor employee, Will Jensen, saying the unemployment rate went down because “more people found work and there was an increase in people filing for first time unemployment benefits”.  A seeming have your cake and eat it too scenario.  The new version of their report, which is now on their website, not only edits out that comment, but also points out the temporaryness of December’s jobs.)

Here’s a reality check:  The ‘official’ unemployment rate reported by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the one that the news media and politicians love to point to, is called U-3.  This stat does not include everybody who is unemployed or underemployed.  The stat that tries to included all the unemployed (usually meaning those not getting unemployment assistance and those who quit looking for a job) and underemployed (meaning those working part time when they should be enjoying retirement or those working part time but needing full time hours/pay) is called U-6.

For Idaho, at the end of the 3rd quarter 2013 the U-3 rate was 6.9%, hence why so many ignorant Gem State news sources were virtually declaring the bad economy over when December’s U-3 rate came in at 5.7%.  But what about the U-6 rate?

At the end of 3rd quarter 2013, Idaho’s U-6 rate was at 13.2%!  The U-6 rate for December has not been published, yet.

‘Elected’ Idaho politicians in Washington DC are calling for a halt in an emergency extension of federal unemployment assistance.  They claim it will cost “taxpayers” (keep reading to see who those taxpayers really are) $6-billion USD if it passes.

The unemployment system in Idaho (aka Idaho Job Service) is actually paid for by employers, who’re charged a tax based on how many successful (that’s the key) unemployment claims are made against them.  Some companies even end up getting a tax rebate!

This creates an incentive for companies to lie about the person filing for first time unemployment claim.  In 2011, a PBS program, called Need to Know, reported on the growing problem of TPAs (third party administrators) working to deny unemployment benefits for those who qualify.  Many unemployment  benefits are being denied because the employers are falsely claiming the employee was fired, when they were actually laid off.  Or, in the case of wrongful firings, the TPAs are appealing those cases, even when it is obviously the fault of the employer.

Now realize that federal unemployment assistance is also paid for by unAmerican Corporate America, not employees or individuals paying their individual income tax!  Now you know the real reason Idaho politicians (who actually work for unAmerican Corporate America, the real “taxpayers” they are talking about) want to kill unemployment compensation!

People should be out in the streets with torches and pitchforks!  UnAmerican Corporate America created the mess, and they continue to find new ways to weasel their way out of paying for it, and your ‘elected’ officials are their lapdogs!