Seasonal problems with the U6 unemployment rate

Jack Welch's tweet wasn't the only piece of nonsense written last week about the reported decline in the unemployment rate to 7.8% in September. The decline in the standard measure was questioned by others because the wider U6 measure of unemployment remained unchanged at 14.7% last month. Having looked into this, however, we're happy to report that the U6 unemployment rate was artificially boosted by a problem with the seasonal adjustment of involuntary part-time workers.