``In a recession, a lot of white collar workers will say they are consulting and they will be counted as self employed - even if they have no clients,'' said Doug Henwood, editor of the Left Business Observer. ``There's a lot of people sitting around at home watching the Jerry Springer show.''
Then there are the underemployed who can't find full-time jobs and people with jobs below their level of skill, like a concert pianist driving a taxi or a pilot working retail.
Bernstein said that underemployment is ``much more cyclical'' than unemployment.
Graduate students also represent a significant number. They are generally excluded from the labor force because they are typically in the classroom, not looking for work. The same is true for undergraduates - with an important distinction. Most undergraduates attend right after high school. Students in graduate programs are more likely mid-career returning students, there to improve their own marketability to employers.
As the economy sputtered and stalled, some graduate schools and programs have seen a deluge of interest. The number of applicants to graduate programs in the California State University system swelled from 32,972 at the end of April 2000 to 47,378 three years later, a 44 percent increase.
The University of California, Berkeley saw an equally dramatic jump. A total of 25,059 applications were received by all programs in 2000, compared to 35,961 this year, a 43 percent increase.
The university's Haas School of Business received 3,501 applications in 2000. The number jumped 46 percent to 5,127 in 2002 - a record, according to Pete Johnson, co-director of admissions at Haas.
But that surge is ebbing. The figure dropped to 4,429 this year, still leaving more than 18 candidates for each spot in the school's 240-member class.
``It appears that there was this whole bubble of people coming through, caught in the downdraft of the whole Internet bubble,'' said Richard Kurovsky, director of marketing at the Haas School of Business. ``When Internet-mania was in full swing, we had fewer applications. ... There were so many opportunities out there.''
While the U.S. Department of Labor classified 8.8 million people as unemployed in April, the department said there were another 437,000 of what it terms discouraged workers - people who are unemployed and didn't look for work because they believe they can't qualify for any job available. The number of discouraged workers is up 37 percent from a year ago.
Experts say a more accurate measure of the economy is the job market itself. Along with the household survey, the Bureau of Labor Statistics surveys employers and tracks the number of actual payroll jobs.
While the household survey relies on truthful answers from those surveyed for accuracy, the payroll survey builds on tax records, Social Security numbers, and payments of unemployment insurance.
Most Bay Area job seekers would likely agree that there are fewer jobs to go around. In the Bay Area's six main job creating counties - Alameda, Contra Costa, San Mateo, Santa Clara, San Francisco and Marin - 213,100 jobs, or 6.7 percent of the total, vanished between April 2001 and April 2002, according to the payroll survey.
Another 61,000 jobs in the six counties disappeared between April 2002 and April 2003.
Over the same two year-period, the number of people in the labor force within the six counties fell by 59,700, while the population rose by about 20,000 per year.
``(The payroll survey) tells you just what you want to know about job creation, and what it tells you ain't pretty,'' Bernstein said. Over the last year, payroll employment is down by 1 million (nationally). The job machine is working in reverse. Its an unfortunate situation.''
Marc Albert can be reached at (510) 208-6414 and malbert at angnewspapers.com .