The unemployed who don’t get counted

The 9.5 percent unemployment rate does not count a huge number of Americans: People who are out of a job and have given up looking. With millions of people out of work and competing with each other for the small percentage of open jobs, it makes sense that a significant portion will call it quits — at least for the time being — and cease searching for employment all together.

John Ferry, a web editor from Detroit, has been unemployed since 2007 and believes his situation is hopeless. Ferry says, “[In my line of work], you can’t get a job unless you offer to do it for free.” He says he now spends his days mowing the lawns of the vacant houses on his block. Newsweek and Slate columnist Dan Gross joins us to explain why those who have dropped out of the labor force are not factored into the country’s unemployment rate and what the numbers would like like if they were included.