SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Millions of residents of the United States were counted as employees in April despite not having a job, suggesting that the real unemployment rate in April was close to 20%, well above the official report of July 14, 7%, the Labor Department said Friday.
The unemployment rate should have included people on temporary unpaid leave due to the coronavirus pandemic, the government said.
However, the responses to the survey used to compile the data show that 11.5 million people were categorized as employed, but absent from work for vacation, parental leave or other reasons, but included 8.1 million absent for reasons ” unspecified “, a group that is usually about 620,000.
“An assumption could be that these 7.5 million additional workers … should have been classified as unemployed with temporary layoffs,” said a note attached to Friday’s government job report. If they had been so classified, the note noted, the unemployment rate would have been 19.5%.
The report also downplayed the unemployment rate in a second way, by ignoring people who want to work but cannot seek employment because of widespread confinement orders to slow the spread of COVID-19.
The Department of Labor excludes people who are not actively seeking work from its unemployment count and classifies them as outside the workforce. However, in April, 9.9 million people out of the workforce – one in 10 – also said they wanted a job, the highest number since there is a record.
“The sharp rise in the want-a-job category reflects the impact of the pandemic on the job market, as forced business closings, orders to stay home, and concerns about the coronavirus prevented many people from committing to a activity in the labor market in April, “said the department.
If those people are added to the reading of the poll of 23.1 million unemployed in April, it would represent 19.8% of the workforce plus those who want to work, he added.
(Report by Ann Saphir; edited in Spanish by Carlos Serrano)
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