It’s not the unemployment rate, stupid! It’s total employment

Why does anyone pay any attention to the unemployment rate? If it’s not clear by now it’s a meaningless number, then a soon-to-be published white paper will put the issue to bed. I bumped into this ditty because I know the researcher and, as someone who speaks frequently on the subject of educating 401k investors, I was looking for some interesting economic data. (To see how this is all tied together, you might want to read “Employment Statistics, Fiduciary Duty and 401k Investor Angst,” FiduciaryNews.com, April 8, 2014.)

The white paper, tentatively titled “What Employment Data Tells Us About the Economy,” begins with the idea that the unemployment rate is correlated to our economy, as measured by GDP. Assuming that’s the case, the dramatic drop in the unemployment rate might explain the equally dramatic rise in the markets last year. Should this be the case, it would quiet all the skeptics who insist there’s a disconnect between the market and the fundamentals of the economy.