NOT the 'real world', as the '95 million unemploye

NOT the 'real world', as the '95 million unemployed' includes the retired as well as HS and college kids. Enjoy your $1 coffee as you read!

Now why would someone like Cruz make such claims, and why would some people pass along such misleading info? Obama Derangement Syndrome and intellectual dishonesty for starters.

Quote:

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In one sense, Cruz’s estimate is actually too low. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, there were 249.7 million non-institutionalized civilians 16 years of age and older last month. Of those, 148.2 million were employed, leaving 101.7 million not employed.

But neither Cruz’s 92 million figure nor the actual 101.7 million figure is especially meaningful -- because they lump in both the young and the old.

Of the 101.7 million people who are not employed, 37.5 million are age 65 and over -- an age when Medicare kicks in and many Americans head into retirement. Another 11.9 million are between 16 and 19, meaning they’re either high-school-age or starting college. And another 8 million are age 20 to 24, when many are in college or graduate school.

Combined, these groups account for 57.5 million Americans -- or more than three-fifths of the number Cruz cited.

Could one quibble with our calculation? Sure -- one could exclude the 20 to 24 category since not everyone that age is college-bound. And improving senior health means that Americans can effectively work past 65.

Still, we don’t see much justification for Cruz counting high-school-age kids (roughly 10 million) and Americans 75 and up (17.6 million). Even this far more restrictive definition leaves almost one-third of Cruz’s number questionable.

Another point worth noting: Just because someone in the prime working-age range (25 to 64) isn’t working doesn’t mean that they are unemployed. They may be disabled, taking care of children full-time or have gone back to school. The actual number of officially unemployed Americans in January was a little under 9 million -- just one-tenth of the figure Cruz cited as "not working."

Our ruling

Cruz said that "92 million Americans aren't working." Once you strip out senior citizens and school-age Americans, the number is less than half that. The statement contains some element of truth but ignores critical facts that would give a different impression, so we rate it Mostly False.

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