Posted by Joseph Y. Calhoun, III

Bob McTeer observes:

My local newspaper this morning showed a picture of a guy standing in a line of job seekers at a Career Expo. He had his cap on backwards.

If, in the unlikely event, he were contacted for the household survey of employment, they would ask him if he had a job. He would say no. Then, they would ask if he had looked for a job in the last six weeks. He could truthfully say yes. He would be classified as in the labor force but unemployed.

Perhaps they should add another question to the survey: “Did you wear your cap backwards when you applied for a job?” If so, he would be classified as not in the labor force, and the number of unemployed would go down by one.

It does make you wonder how serious some people are about actually finding a job. McTeer lives in Dallas so I also wonder if we might be able to trade this guy for a Mexican who really wants to work. Maybe our problem is too little emigration rather than too much immigration.