[TheRealVille]

I agree, that is if you consider conservative talking points as being the truth. Unemployment is actually calculated through a monthly survey of 60,000 households. The survey does not specifically ask whether the person is employed or unemployed, but has questions designed to determine whether or not the residents of the household will be classified as 1) Employed, 2) Unemployed or 3) Not in the Labor Force. Any person not actively seeking employment falls into #3 and is not part of the calculation. Also, since the sample size is only 60,000 households there is a potential +- 3% margin for error.


http://www.bls.gov/cps/cps_htgm.htm

What are the basic concepts of employment and unemployment?
The basic concepts involved in identifying the employed and unemployed are quite simple:

People with jobs are employed.
People who are jobless, looking for jobs, and available for work are unemployed.
People who are neither employed nor unemployed are not in the labor force.

You think retirees and others that don't seek work might fall into #3? It really has no bearing on "people giving up finding a job". Numbers and statistics can be twisted any number of ways to make whatever side's point look valid, when in fact, it isn't.