Understandable for GDP, but unemployment should be a factor you consider in measures of well-being. Employment is one of the most important factors in a person’s life path. Unemployed people run into more financial difficulties, is associated with health problems, and results in society wide effect like increased crime.
As the person above mentioned, the employeement rate means absolutely nothing if those jobs don’t pay enough. It’s why employment is a useless metric, sure unemployment is low but how are people doing? Well, the amount of people living paycheck to paycheck and kids going hungry has skyrocketed. Shit, I’d bet half the reason jobs fill quickly is because many people are working more than one. If you need the equivalent of 3-4 working people to maintain a one bedroom apartment for two people then the economy is dog shit. People shouldn’t have to double their work just to get by but that’s what’s happening to damn near the entire generation of the most highly educated workforce of all time.
I’d say unemployment is a semi-useless metric: if it’s high, things are definitely bad, but if it’s low, things aren’t necessarily good.
