The national unemployment rate officially stands at 8.2 percent. But if the government factored in Americans who have given up trying to find work, the rate would be 9.6 percent. California Rep. Duncan Hunter says that should be the real unemployment rate because it gives a far more accurate picture into how many Americans would like to be working but cannot find a job. Hunter says the change would be easy because the monthly jobless reports already calculate that rate but it is not the official unemployment number. He adds that people leaving the labor market after their jobless benefits expire actually make the traditional unemployment go down – which is exactly the wrong way to look at ‘discouraged’ workers. Hunter tells us why this change is needed after so many years of most people accepting the current calculation for unemployment without any problems. He also explains why he does not want to count the “underemployed” in the jobless rate. Those are people who want to be working full-time but have to settle for part-time jobs. Hunter also discusses how policy decisions might be made differently if lawmakers had the real unemployment rate in mind.