The nominal national unemployment rate in the United States in January 2008 was 4.9%, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. But guess what? You’re not unemployed if:

• you’re not working, but you’re “discouraged” – literally, you’re convinced there’s no work for you (467,000 people)
• you’re not working, but you didn’t look for work in the last four weeks due to family or school responsibilities (1,300,000 people)
• you’re not working, because you’re in jail (2,319,258 people)

If you include all those people as “unemployed,” then the unemployment rate jumps to 7.3%, on a par with U. S. “official” unemployment figures from 1976, or from 1981-1986.