In an interview less than two weeks after his inauguration, President Barack Obama promised that he would ‘be held accountable’ for the results of his polices. Moreover, speaking about economic recovery, the president said, ‘If I don’t have this done in three years, then there’s going to be a one-term proposition.’

On Feb. 1, we reached the three-year mark, and, according to Gallup’s latest measure of Obama’s approval rating, 47 percent of Americans are ready for the one-term proposition.

Employment statistics give Obama another reason to carry out his proposal. This month, the official U-3 unemployment figure, delivered by Bureau of Labor Statistics and reported on by the media, fell to 8.3 percent, its lowest point since the month Obama initiated the one-term proposition. With access to only this figure, one might think that Obama has restored employment, but as Phaedrus would say, ‘Things are not as they seem.’

Despite the non-Fox media and liberal pundits, the United States is no more employed than when Obama took office. Claiming that the Bureau of Labor Statistics U-3 figure measures real unemployment is misleading, and Chairman of the Federal Reserve Ben Bernanke agrees. At a Senate Budget Committee hearing Feb. 7, Bernanke said, ‘The 8.3 percent no doubt understates the weakness of the labor market in some broad sense.’

Specifically, U-3 unemployment is calculated as ‘total unemployed, as a percent of the civilian labor force,’ according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics website. In the case of U-3, the Bureau of Labor Statistics completely removes anyone who has given up searching for a job. It is calculated as if these people no longer exist among the population or the unemployed. In other words, as people leave the workforce and give up their search for a job, the U-3 unemployment improves, and this is exactly what is happening.

This month, coinciding with the record low U-3 unemployment rate of 8.3 percent, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported it had found 1,252,000 more people outside of the labor force. This re-adjustment further skews the U-3 rate. From the beginning of Obama’s term in office to the present, the number of people who want a job but have given up the search has grown from 2.1 million to 2.8 million.

Regardless of this, the president suggested that Congress ‘not slow down the recovery that we’re on. Don’t muck it up. Keep it moving in the right direction.’ The Bureau of Labor Statistics U-4 unemployment figure provides a more accurate assessment of our economic situation. The U-4 calculation counts those who have given up job hunting but wish to be employed as opposed to being unemployed, unlike U-3, in which these people are considered nonexistent.

Just after taking office, Obama made his one-term proposition, and U-4 was at 9.3 percent. This month, after floating back and forth between 9 and 11 percent for three years, U-4 is at 9.4 percent. Meaning, at best, our president has successfully given us managed stagnation, and at worse, he has hampered a quick and graceful free-market-driven recovery through his heavy-handed interventionist economic policy.

Obama promised results in three years and failed to meet his own mark. In 2012, we need a leader with the courage to defend capitalism. Without this, all of the capacity for innovation, great meaningfulness, success and prestige once given to each American as a birthright will slip away as a result of the cradle-to-grave mentality disassembling our once thriving entrepreneurial spirit.

Michael Stikkel is a sophomore computer engineering major. His column appears weekly. He can be reached at mcstikke@syr.edu.    

Published on February 10, 2012 at 12:00 pm