Flaws in Growth and Productivity Data (unemployment, statistics, compare, economic)

[cleanhouse]

Flaw in US Data Overstates Growth, Productivity - General * US * News * Story - CNBC.com

If we are going to be bombarded by and use stats and graphs to get a picture of our economic health it would be nice if the numbers actually told the truth.

[HappyTexan]

Well it's good to see that some MSM sites are now questioning those happy, fuzzy numbers from the government. Gives some credibility to sites like Shadowstats.

[DC at the Ridge]

Thanks for sharing this, Cleanhouse.

Statistics never tell the whole story, they only illustrate parts of a situation, and can easily be manipulated. It's important to anyone who relies on such figures to research how the figures were arrived at, what kind of sampling was done, what kind of questions were asked, and so on. It's also important when comparisons are being made, if those comparisons have true parity. If you compare unemployment stats in 1984 to unemployment stats in 2009, is it a true comparison if the unemployment numbers then were altogether different measures then the unemployment numbers of today?

[cleanhouse]

Originally Posted by DC at the Ridge

Thanks for sharing this, Cleanhouse.

Statistics never tell the whole story, they only illustrate parts of a situation, and can easily be manipulated. It's important to anyone who relies on such figures to research how the figures were arrived at, what kind of sampling was done, what kind of questions were asked, and so on. It's also important when comparisons are being made, if those comparisons have true parity. If you compare unemployment stats in 1984 to unemployment stats in 2009, is it a true comparison if the unemployment numbers then were altogether different measures then the unemployment numbers of today?

Agreed, we can not just take stats at face value. some analysis is required.