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Comment by jimrandomh | Hacker News Reader

Heading to the Bureau of Labor Statistics at (http://www.bls.gov/cps/cpsaat03.htm) to get the most obviously relevant numbers:

    Unemployment, men 50-54: 4.3%
    Unemployment, women 50-54: 4.4%
    Unemployment, men 55-64: 4.5%
    Unemployment, women 55-64: 4.2%

These do not seem to indicate a difference between genders.

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I have been told to be very careful when interpreting this kind of number. There is political pressure to keep these numbers low, so only if it is really unavoidable, you'll be counted.

I am speculating here, but maybe, if a woman's spouse happens to be working, the woman will not be counted. Or who could be counted as having an early pension? Who is registered to receive benefits from the state under which conditions? Does voluntary work make one disappear from these lists?

The definitions for "unemployed" are very well defined. This is the standard "U3" unemployment number. You count as unemployed if you do not have a job and have looked for work within the last 4 weeks.

There are other unemployment numbers that include people who would work if offered a job but aren't actually looking for one, but that's not the main measure that BLS uses. People that wouldn't take a job even if you offered one to them (like students and early retirees) don't count at all- they don't even show up in the denominator of any of these measures. BLS has the summary of all 6 measures of unemployment at http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.t15.htm but I don't think they have the detailed breakdown of any of the other measures.

The integrity of those numbers is pretty good actually. You need to understand what they mean.

You have to be in the workforce to be reflected in them. Voluntary work doesn't count -- and in many cases women are caregivers for grandchildren, spouses, older parents, etc.

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