How *Do* They Track the Unemploymemt Rate?

I thought the government had some scientific way of doing this - they surely have access to eveyrone claiming unemployment benefits, ad can track that on a monthly basis.

But according to Rush...all they do is take a poll????

RUSH: According to Gallup, the unemployment rate in February: 9.1%. We're gonna get the federal unemployment number here pretty soon, and we will hear what the Obama regime is claiming the new unemployment number is. Now, unemployment compensation requests or applications went up by about 8,000. Jobless claims jumped 8,000 to a seasonally adjusted 362,000 in the week ending March the 3rd. This is according to the Labor Department. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires had forecast that claims would rise by 2,000. So this was unexpected. Claims rose by 8,000. That's the government. Gallup says that their unemployment rate is 9.1%.


Now, bear in mind, Gallup does exactly what the Bureau of Labor Statistics does to get their monthly employment rate. That is, they take a survey. They do a poll. For their survey, Gallup interviewed 27,275 people. The government claims that they survey 110,000 adults. The only real difference between the Bureau of Labor Statistics and Gallup is that Gallup does not make any so-called seasonal adjustments like the government does. The seasonal adjustment seems to be the government's secret sauce. Maybe that's the government's pink slime.