Latest Unemployment Rate is 10.6%

The latest official unemployment rate is 8.6%. Everyone knows it is worse but very few have the skill set to find out the truth. Different economist have different methods. I like using “real world” analysis comparing today’s economy where the federal government consumes 25.3% of the GDP to the 1999-2000 economy where the federal government consumed 18.2% of the GDP.

Civilian Labor Force Participation Rate going nowhere but down

I do this because that is when the labor force participation rate peaked at 67.9% in July 1999. The employment-population ratio also peaked at 64.9% that month. Compared that to today’s dismal 27 year lows of 63.9% and 57.6% respectively.
Simply put keeping the 1999 ratios we have 140,580,000 workers today compared to the 148,681,000 we should have with limited federal government and sound economic policies. The civilian labor force is 153,683,000 but under the 1999 criteria it would be 157,278,000. Doing the math the “1999″ unemployment rate would be 10.6%, not 8.6%.