Discouraged Quote by Jim Talent
“The unemployment rate has effectively not gone down from where it was at the peak of the recession. The only reason it's gone technically from 10 percent to 8 percent is so many people are discouraged and have quit work.”
About This Quote
Source Speech: Economic Commentary, 2009, United States
The unemployment figure appears lower only because many workers have stopped looking, not because jobs have increased.
In simple terms: Job stats hide discouraged workers.
Key Takeaway
Address hidden unemployment.
Themes
economics
labor market
statistics
Mood
cautious
analytical
Type
policy
analysis
When to use this quote
- government reports
- job seekers
- policy making
Key Concepts
discouraged workers
employment measurement
policy analysis
Questions to Reflect On
- How do we measure true employment health?
- What policies can re‑engage discouraged workers?
A Different Perspective
Numbers can be misleading without context.
![“We've seen tremendous progress in many ways under President [Barack] Obama. I mean, if we think about where the economy was when he got in - you know, we were losing more than 700,000 jobs a month. The unemployment rate was skyrocketing. And now it's at under 5 percent, so there is a lot of…” quote by Julian Castro](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/24e/julian-castro-9410_barack_we-ve-seen-tremendous-progress-in-many-w_206611.jpg)
