The US unemployment rate has always been deceptive in this way relative to other countries that track “true” unemployment. There is however a compelling argument on why the US uses this statistic and how it is in many ways a more accurate measure of employment and productivity. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics has some very good information on exactly why these numbers are used and how they are generated. While you are factually correct in how these numbers are generated you have failed to show how your conclusions are supported by a century of statistics of seasonal and long term employment trends.