Murdoch's minions have been drinking the Kool-Aid again

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 Basically the Australian Bureau of Statistics defines the labour force as every person 15 years of age and older who is capable of work.

Those usually excluded are persons in this age group who are voluntarily keeping house (unpaid), have permanently retired, are members of contemplative religious orders or are in gaols, hospitals, boarding schools etc.

In January 2014 the size of the labour force was calculated at 12.18 million, with total employed persons being 11.45 million and total unemployed persons being 728,600 (seasonally adjusted). [6202.0 - Labour Force, Australia, Jan 2014]

This brought the unemployment rate for January in at 6 per cent.

Sounds simple doesn’t it?

Yet The Australian ran this opening sentence in an article titled Remove hurdles to employment on 14 February 2014; Australia's unemployment rate is now just shy of 51 per cent. That is not a misprint. Then went on to state; In a country of 23.38 million people only 7.95 million have a full-time job, with another 3.51 million in part-time jobs

The newspaper appears to have reached this conclusion by calculating its 11.46 million employed persons as a percentage of its total Australian population (mewling infants, primary school children, retirees, the frail aged in nursing homes etc., all merrily included) and then subtracting this from 100 to reach 51 per cent unemployment across the nation.

I’m still wondering what on earth the editor was drinking thinking when he decided to let such drivel go forward for publication.

One thing is certain – his journalist must have been quaffing Kool-Aid** by the bucket full.

* Kool-Aid image from Google Images

** Drinking the Kool-Aid