Rubbish Check
CBS MoneyWatch · August 21, 2026
source“Nearly 25% of workers are ‘functionally unemployed,’ analysis finds”
R5/ 10
Selective
Rubbish Rating — 1 = base fact, 10 = pure rubbish
12345678910
In short
Rubbish Talk rates CBS MoneyWatch's headline that nearly 25% of workers are "functionally unemployed" a 5/10 because the 24.9% figure isn't a jobless rate at all; it mostly counts people who have jobs but earn under $26,000 a year or can't get full-time hours, a distinction the headline elides even though the body eventually explains it.
The Verdict
Selective. The headline borrows an advocacy group's loaded term without immediately flagging that most of that 24.9% are employed, not out of work, and buries the mainstream economist who calls the whole framing implausible until well into the piece.
What actually happened
The Ludwig Institute for Shared Economic Prosperity (LISEP), a private research group, published its "True Rate of Unemployment" (TRU) for July, an alternative metric that combines the jobless, the involuntarily part-time, and full-time workers earning below $26,000 a year. The official BLS unemployment rate for July was 4.1%. CBS reported LISEP's TRU alongside pushback from an outside economist who said the figure doesn't match observable economic reality.
Key facts
- Official BLS unemployment rate, July: 4.1%, "well within the range economists consider healthy".
- LISEP's TRU, July: 24.9%, up from a four-month climb but down from 25.2% in December.
- TRU definition: people unemployed and looking for work, plus those involuntarily working part-time, plus those earning less than $26,000 annually before taxes
- i.e., many counted here have full-time jobs.
- Dissent inside the same article: EY-Parthenon chief economist Gregory Daco said "an unemployment rate that would be in the 20% range does not line up with anything we see in the U.S. economy".
- Context CBS also included: employers unexpectedly cut 23,000 jobs in July, undershooting expectations, while July CPI rose 3.4% annually against 3.2% wage growth.
What to watch for
Watch whether TRU keeps climbing for a fifth straight month, Ludwig himself cautioned "we shouldn't read too much into a single month, but four months begin to tell a story". Also watch whether other outlets picking up TRU attach Daco-style pushback, or run the 25% figure unchallenged as if it were a jobless rate.
About this scoreThe R-Score is Rubbish Talk's editorial opinion on how far a headline's framing sits from what the underlying facts support. It is a judgement about presentation and emphasis, not an allegation that any outlet has acted dishonestly. Every figure we rely on is linked under Receipts so you can check it yourself.
