8.8% Unemployment, Eh … Gallup Says 10.0% and Underemployment at 19.3%

Yesterday, the Labor Department stated that the unemployment rate dropped to 8.8% in March. Really? Not according to Gallup that states that unemployment is at 10% and underemployment is at 19.3%. Even though the March numbers are lower than February, they are still far too high and going at a snail’s pace recovery. Could it be because of too much government interference, regulation and failed Obama economic policy?

Unemployment, as measured by Gallup without seasonal adjustment, was 10.0% in March — down from 10.2% in mid-March and 10.3% at the end of February, but above the 9.8% at the end of January. U.S. unemployment was 10.4% at the end of March a year ago.

As reported in the WSJ,‘We Have Become a Nation of Takers, not Makers’. The problem, there are far too many people who work for the government of compared to construction, farming, fishing, forestry, manufacturing, mining and utilities combined.

If you want to understand better why so many states—from New York to Wisconsin to California—are teetering on the brink of bankruptcy, consider this depressing statistic: Today in America there are nearly twice as many people working for the government (22.5 million) than in all of manufacturing (11.5 million). This is an almost exact reversal of the situation in 1960, when there were 15 million workers in manufacturing and 8.7 million collecting a paycheck from the government.

It gets worse. More Americans work for the government than work in construction, farming, fishing, forestry, manufacturing, mining and utilities combined. We have moved decisively from a nation of makers to a nation of takers. Nearly half of the $2.2 trillion cost of state and local governments is the $1 trillion-a-year tab for pay and benefits of state and local employees. Is it any wonder that so many states and cities cannot pay their bills?