New Rules To Change Unemployment Stats

Washington, DC, Dec. 29, 2010 -- The Bureau of Labor Statistics announced changes to rules on how it calculates long-term unemployment Tuesday, according to The Hill newspaper.

The changes will expand the bureau's ability to calculate unemployment for those unemployed for longer than 99 weeks. Now, there will be a new box to tick, one saying 260-weeks-or-over unemployed.

The new stat is likely to give a much better view of the structural unemployment problem than the 27 week chart it now uses.