Which would you rather see - a table of numbers, or a nice graph? When it comes to unemployment numbers, I vote for the graph!
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) provides several tables of data about the U.S. workforce. One such table (Table A-15) provides several different alternative measures of labor underutilization.
On the data download page, you can click the 'include graphs' button, but they just provide a simple (separate) line-chart for each variable you select. Here's the graph for LNU03327707, for example:
A group from George Mason University wrote an article about this data, and provided an interesting graph, plotting several of the variables in a single chart. It was much better than looking at tables of data ... but it seemed a bit 'busy' and was difficult for me to determine exactly what was represented in the chart.
Therefore I decided to create my own version using SAS, and try to make it a bit simpler and more straightforward. Here's what I came up with:
What do you think about this data? Is the large "Part-Time Workers for Economic Reasons" segment something we should be concerned about? Is this a trend that's going to stick around? What are your thoughts on this data?
5 Comments
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Great graph. How come ever time I see unemployment/underemployment data it seems much better than reality...shouldn't the true unemployment/underemployment rate be closer to 52%?
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-05-05/good-and-bad-news-about-us-jobs-one-chart
Or is someone fudging the data (on either side)?
I guess it all depends on who you count, and who you don't count :) I also suspect there is quite a bit of "unreported employment/income" that is difficult to get statistics on.
Cool graph. I always feel bad - for a moment - when I steal your code. Yet I always seem to get over it.
I approve of this comment! LOL