This is a great example of the reason you shouldn’t believe things on the internet, especially sites with an “Agenda”.
It’s listed on Drudge, and that link points to a New York Post Story that says “The unemployment rate for young Americans has exploded to 52.2 percent — a post-World War II high, according to the Labor Dept. — ”
There is just NO WAY that’s right, no matter how much you want to blame President Obama…. that “statistic” is now bouncing around all the right wing blogosphere.
Here was the original press release from the Bureau of Labor Statistics
http://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/youth.pdf
It’s talking about summer employment (age 16 to 24) and there IS one number in the report that says 52.2% – it is the EMPLOYMENT rate of young men during the summer. What the statistic said is that 52.2% employment was the lowest employment rate since WW II. Not all 16-24 year olds are looking for work during the summer. A lot are in school, many don’t need or want a job, some are probably working for cash “off the books”… the actual youth unemployment rate in July was 18.5%
