Unemployment Rate Jumps to 26-Year High (Update2)

I think we're seeing a growing divide between two economies which are very, very dissimilar to each other: people who have commercially valuable skills, and people who do not.<p>In good economic times, the structural changes in the economy are largely masked: construction had an insatiable need for strong arms to carry materials and swing hammers, and the service industries were booming. In weak times, companies start to look around the office and say "Hey, who here is worth the price differential versus an 18 year old in $COUNTRY_ABSTRACTED_TO_AVOID_COMPLAINTS_OF_RACISM"<p>There does not seem to me that there will ever be an obvious economic reason to prefer a, e.g., a 40-something barely literate American with an arrest record over four outsourced workers. Only one of those counts for our unemployment rates, though.<p>The unusual deepness of this economic funk is also testing received bits of wisdom, such as "a BA automatically means you have economically viable skills."

I wonder how much of this increase is due to the way unemployment is calculated. When workers stop looking for a job, they are no longer counted as unemployed. When they start looking for a job, I assume they are once again counted.<p>Given that we had been hearing a good amount about economic recovery and lowering unemployment, is it possible that formerly discouraged workers got back into the job market? Nothing fundamental seems to have changed since 6 months ago.

And it's falling if you're skilled.