The Gallup organization has a hard-hitting commentary by Jim Clifton exposing the truth behind the 5.6% unemployment rate that the Obama Administration and Wall Street traders are pointing to as an indication that the economy is in full recovery.  

Gallup goes so far as to call the unemployment figure a "big lie" as it doesn't take into account individuals who have completely dropped out of the job market.  

None of them will tell you this: If you, a family member or anyone is unemployed and has subsequently given up on finding a job -- if you are so hopelessly out of work that you've stopped looking over the past four weeks -- the Department of Labor doesn't count you as unemployed. That's right. While you are as unemployed as one can possibly be, and tragically may never find work again, you are not counted in the figure we see relentlessly in the news -- currently 5.6%. Right now, as many as 30 million Americans are either out of work or severely underemployed. Trust me, the vast majority of them aren't throwing parties to toast "falling" unemployment.

There's another reason why the official rate is misleading. Say you're an out-of-work engineer or healthcare worker or construction worker or retail manager: If you perform a minimum of one hour of work in a week and are paid at least $20 -- maybe someone pays you to mow their lawn -- you're not officially counted as unemployed in the much-reported 5.6%. Few Americans know this.

This is in stark contrast to the propaganda delivered by the White House in October. Look at the graphic they created celebrating the new unemployment rate at the time:  

Of course, what the snazzy gif refuses to mention is the astonishing number of Americans who have just given up on even trying to get a job in the Obama economy. 

Gallup defines a good job as 30+ hours per week for an organization that provides a regular paycheck. Right now, the U.S. is delivering at a staggeringly low rate of 44%, which is the number of full-time jobs as a percent of the adult population, 18 years and older. We need that to be 50% and a bare minimum of 10 million new, good jobs to replenish America's middle class.