Fraud and error make the jobless situation look worse than it truly is

The United States has a problem with unemployment. We know there are too many unemployed, and we would like there to be fewer. The official count is that there are 29 million and some change getting unemployment benefits.

This is the number that agitates interest in more stimulus money, blowing out the deficit to be nice to folks during election season. Some 12.3 million of these people are getting regular unemployment insurance payments while the rest are on the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program.